ahecht Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 ^^^Kicker wheel or LSM seems like a much more expensive fix since it requires wiring and computer software patches. A stare case and catwalk would just require some welding. Hopefully no one overreacts and we just leave the ride as is. I was thinking the same, even a simpler ladder up the support to catwalk platform (much like the ladders on V2's support. Sure, it won't be suited for an evac but can very easily be used by maintenance to come up and perhaps give the train a push...given that it was one of those weaker launches that I mentioned earlier... If they wanted to get all fancy, they could even install a $50 manual winch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double0Kevin Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I will never understand why when things like this happen, every coaster enthusiast and their mother is suddenly is a certified PE (Professional Engineer) and thinks they know what needs to be added/improved on a coaster to avoid future occurrences of such an event. I can say without a shadow of a doubt they will not add a LSM to the top of the tower. Do you know how silly that would be? The cost alone would not justify preventing such an event, even if it was to occur every few thousand cycles. I know you weren't singling out anyone, but in defense of my comments, I was more imagining the ridiculous response the state may have. California is known to require some unnecessary changes to rides (like the handrails on Alice in Wonderland at DL) so I'm curious if they will try to impose some new change. The Northern California office is usually a little less crazy though. Glad everything ended up working out and hopefully the ride will be back up and running ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Today's what I like to call the 'aftermath.' I step foot into work when my boss immediately asks me (knowing I'm in love with coasters): "Hey Billy, did you hear about the Superman ride at Six Flags?" A bit later in the day I had a customer come to my workstation to retrieve some of his photos off of his phone when he saw my desktop wallpaper (Flight Deck) when again, am asked if I heard about what happened at SFDK. After telling him about what I heard, I told him about how I still really want to ride it. He thought I was nuts. I then told him about how I was craving riding on Invertigo when that dilemma happened a couple years ago. The KTVU Channel 2 News posted a thing earlier on their FB looking for riders who were stuck... I'd love to hear what the stranded riders had to say. Lastly, according to another news article, it appears that there were no mechanical problems with the coaster and that the park would probably begin cycling the coaster later this afternoon. ALLEJO, Calif. (AP) — Mechanical problems were not to blame for the stalling of a roller coaster carrying a dozen people at a Northern California theme park while the coaster was about 150 feet above the ground, park officials said Monday. The riders were stranded upright aboard the new Superman Ultimate Flight roller coaster at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo for less than 90 minutes Sunday afternoon before the roller coaster was restarted. Park spokeswoman Nancy Chan told The Associated Press that crews found no mechanical problems with the new ride or track. They are still investigating what caused the coaster to stall and plan to run its cars later Monday. Vallejo firefighters arrived at the park around 3 p.m. after the coaster stalled. A theme park crane equipped with a large personnel bucket was prepared to reach the riders. Two firefighters and a park mechanic were lifted up in the bucket and gave water bottles to the riders, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald (http://bit.ly/MtKFQd ). A park mechanic eventually restarted the ride, which then went backward and lowered the riders safely to the ground. Fire Battalion Chief Ray Jackson said firefighters were prepared to take riders down in the bucket if the coaster couldn't be restarted. None of the stranded riders was injured, Jackson said. The ride opened June 30. It holds two cars with six riders each and can travel up to 62 mph. http://hosted2.ap.org/CAANR/703431ceb9e54ef59a493df79e81e2f3/Article_2012-07-30-Roller%20Coaster%20Stalls/id-506207b7f798454a97f30057a55331ae Yup, another news article, pretty much reiterating what everyone else has said, with the addition of the lack of mechanical problems that I mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 One more thing to add on the Superman incident..my local news here in Sacramento interviewed the Vallejo Fire dept batallion chief who said they had actually trained for this exact situation in case it happened, don't know if that was the park's idea or the fire dept took it upon themselves. There was no wind, and if there was no mechanical issues, that pretty much only leaves operator error doesn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Really depends... How can an operator exactly get the coaster to stall up top like that? Doesn't seem logical to me. I still have that feeling that there was a glitch in the LIMs, thus having that perfect amount of force and weight of the train to come up top and rest. To me, it seems like one of those 1 in a million kind of situations. I kind of wish that I was one of them on the ride when it got stuck, just to say that "I was there" and could have a sensible statement to give to the news (which would probably be edited out in favor of the GP-isms). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Really depends... How can an operator exactly get the coaster to stall up top like that? Doesn't seem logical to me. I still have that feeling that there was a glitch in the LIMs, thus having that perfect amount of force and weight of the train to come up top and rest. To me, it seems like one of those 1 in a million kind of situations. I kind of wish that I was one of them on the ride when it got stuck, just to say that "I was there" and could have a sensible statement to give to the news (which would probably be edited out in favor of the GP-isms). That was my assumption too, but they've been pretty clear about saying it was not a mechanical issue of any kind and I would think launcher malfunction would be considered a mechanical issue. I don't know anything about the control panel, I just can't think of anything else it could be assuming they're telling the truth, and I assume that they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmicha Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 It doesn't seem any different than any of the times Dragster stopped at the top. Conditions were just right for the momentum to carry the train perfectly to the top and it just stopped. Nothing was wrong, just a bunch of factors added up equalling a stalled train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 It doesn't seem any different than any of the times Dragster stopped at the top. Conditions were just right for the momentum to carry the train perfectly to the top and it just stopped. Nothing was wrong, just a bunch of factors added up equalling a stalled train.What conditions? (Thats not accusatory, just curious) I've heard of Ka and TTD getting stuck due to wind but that wouldn't have been the case on this day. What other factors can affect it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 (edited) It doesn't seem any different than any of the times Dragster stopped at the top. Conditions were just right for the momentum to carry the train perfectly to the top and it just stopped. Nothing was wrong, just a bunch of factors added up equalling a stalled train.What conditions? (Thats not accusatory, just curious) I've heard of Ka and TTD getting stuck due to wind but that wouldn't have been the case on this day. What other factors can affect it? Temperature, wind speed, amount of left handed people in the park at the time, etc. Edited July 31, 2012 by ernierocker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 ^Temperature, wind speed, amount of left handed people in the park at the time, etc.lol @ left handed. 73 degrees and 12mph yesterday..doesn't seem like enough to affect it..but admittedly I don't know. (And again just to stress cause its hard to tell on a message board - I'm not arguing, I actually want to know) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmicha Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 ^It could be any number of things honestly. The weight of passengers, a slight direction change in the wind, a small gust of wind, humidity, etc. I don't know the details of how the ride system determines launch speed, but that could have had something to do with it. If they are saying there was nothing wrong mechanically it must have been some combination of other things that resulted in it stalling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Hey! I'm a lefty I also blame the alignment of the planets, the curvature of the earth, how many funnel cakes riders ate prior to riding, and how many simultaneous toilet flushes occurred at the time the ride launched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 When they say nothing wrong mechanically that does not necessarily mean that includes the launch system as well because technically the launch is pretty much all electrical, there was no mention anywhere of not having computer or electrical issues. So it remains curious.... looks like its just one of those freak things that happens under the right conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double0Kevin Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I seriously doubt the LSM had an issue. It sounds like conditions were perfect and the ride balanced itself at the top. When I worked at the park some co-workers and I referred to the idea of something like this happening as the ride "peaking" which is kinda the opposite of the ride valleying. I'm sure the park will work out a solution to this and have a quick response should it happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Could this be the next "Avoid _____?" situation much like SFMM's infamous "avoid inversions"? Six Flags has officially posted about the incident via their Facebook, I'm sure it was definitely a better time to do this tonight instead of last night as much of the hype has already died off. There are still some typical GPisms though... One that sounds really uneducated was this: My kid went Thursday, and it broke down twice while she was in line, and was broken again when she walked by later. Sketchy ride. But they don't care about the people, just get it moving again and throw more riders on so they can make a nickel. Ok, person, tell me why the ride is shut down at the moment, as stated by Six Flags, to further investigate the situation? It's not like the ride was instantly reopened after the glitch. What do you want Six Flags to do...remove the ride entirely so you will be happy? Sorry but, no...not going to happen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 If you shut it down, you don't care about their happiness. If you don't shut it down, you don't care about their safety. People who want to complain will complain, and with roller coasters some people are looking for excuses to not ride other than "I'm afraid". Saying "They just throw people on the unsafe ride to make a buck" makes you sound tougher than "I don't want to ride that because it scares me". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
154bmag Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 This reminds me if the invertigo incident at CGA. With the overreaction by the GP, and news covering it constantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 It was all the work of . . . Evil Leprechauns! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double0Kevin Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 This reminds me if the invertigo incident at CGA. With the overreaction by the GP, and news covering it constantly. Well, Invertigo was a legitimate mechanical failure; Superman was just a freak incident that was 1 in a million. If the media can, they will blow it up. It's just a fact of life in the times we live in. As for the GP, I think the largest downfall of Facebook is that it exposes the ignorance and stupidity of people, which is especially highlighted by them being so confident they are right. I think if we need any proof of the failure of our countries school system, you need only read comments left on FB fan pages. I'm not hating on the US, we've churned out some of the greatest thinkers of all time, but unfortunately we've also churned out the polar opposite at a much higher volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrightFest1408 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Do you guys think it will be open by Saturday? Im planning a trip to Discovery Kingdom for the second time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieT. Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I can't believe that local news stations are still covering the incident - KTVU Noon News just played the story again. They also said that the park was planning to make a statement on the ride's status sometime today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewoplis Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I just got back from the park today, and overall I had a good time. The only bad thing is that Superman was closed, I'm guessing it was because of stall, since it seems like the park wasn't doing much to the ride. I was able to get on to all the major coasters and flatrides and everything turned into walk on after 1:30! Something weird did happen though, I was in line for Medusa and a train was coming into the station, but instead of the train stopping where it usually does, it started to roll through the station! So when it stopped, row 8 was where row 7 should be, row 7 was where row 6 should be, etc.. I'm not sure what caused it, but I think it was cause by the ride op on the control panel spacing out and failing to take his hand of the dispatch button. But I'm not a expert when it comes to control panels so please don't start yelling at me if I sound stupid. But other than that, I had a lot of fun at park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Mutts Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 I can't believe that local news stations are still covering the incident - KTVU Noon News just played the story again. They also said that the park was planning to make a statement on the ride's status sometime today. Not just local, but also national, I live in New York and saw them covering incident here too. Oh the media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theonetheonlyJT Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 ^ Same here in Georgia too and last week or when ever it was they were showing Mr. Freeze stopped on track every 15 mins on the local news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernierocker Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Moving on from the not so exciting stall: How has the capacity/lines been so far on Superman? I haven't been able to keep up with this thread as much as I would like to, so if it was already mentioned, I apologize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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