Roller Coaster Riders Left Hanging
Power Outage Strands 12 Upside Down On The X-Coaster At Magic Springs
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12 people were stuck hanging upside down on the X-Coaster due to a power outage, ()
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An amusement park visitor took this picture of the X-Coaster at Magic Springs when the ride froze, leaving 12 riders hanging upside down. ()
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It took about 30 minutes for the city Fire Department to rescue the riders using a ladder truck Saturday evening, said Aundrea Crary, spokeswoman for the Springs & Crystal Falls amusement park.
Spectators cheered when the riders were brought to the ground from the highest point of a loop on the X-Coaster, but one passenger threw up after reaching safety.
The X-Coaster was one of several rides brought to a halt by the outage that originated somewhere near the park.
"You could tell who got off the (X-Coaster) because their faces were red," said Angela Salter. She was riding the Gauntlet, another coaster, and said park employees worked quickly to free her.
The park resumed normal operations, although the X-Coaster remained closed.
One X-Coaster passenger, Jay Plummer, 37, was taken to St. Joseph Mercy Medical Center in Hot Springs after complaining of neck pain and a headache.
"It was very scary," said his girlfriend, Connie McBride. "I love the amusement park, but I will never get on the X-Coaster again."
The park has experienced outages before, but usually they last only seconds, said Dan Aylward, Magic Springs president and general manager.
Entergy Corp. was investigating but crews found no faulty wiring.
"The cause could be a (tree) limb or as simple as an animal (on the lines)," said Mark Hunt, general manager of customer service for Entergy. "We could find no faults, but we are going to continue to investigate until we find the cause."
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However, because of the lack of... contingency preparation, I hope they engage in a class action lawsuit and win. With profit comes responsibility.
Please explain how the amusement park was negligent in this instance. Unless we outlaw all roller coasters with loops, there is no way to absolutely guarantee that this type of situation will never happen, no matter how many precautions are taken.
Here is where the lawsuit would come in: A rider expects to have the ride complete in 1-3 minutes, and expects to have multiple G-forces exerted on their body. To have a ride last 30 minutes in an upside down position (when there are neasures that can be easily implemented to avoid this) is beyond what the rider expects. Here are the dangers: What if someone threw up upside down and choked on their vomit? Me, having a weak stomach, have thrown up on such rides (the zipper and Spaceship Mars to name two) knows that the motion of the ride made it not a pretty situation for the other riders, but I was in no danger of choking, due to the motion.
Anyway, there are engineering controls that can be implemented, and for everyone's sake, they should be implemented.
The addition of administrative controls (letting people know what may happen when power is lost) and engineering controls that help eliminate or mitigate the issues (such as stopping the ride when there is no power, so the riders are not in an uncontrolled situation) that occur with may come up.
So, for the riders suing for ten trillion dollars... give me a break. For the park to step up and make sure that they do what is possible and reasonable to make sure this doesn't happen again, that is reasonable for all concerned.
If the park were to do nothing, and just say, "we're not doing anything...so sad, too bad.", I say, let the dogs loose.
I hope this clarifies my opinion on this.
The owners of the park MUST know this electric company is very shoddy. They should have backup generators for such an occurence, or as another poster said, a UPS system attached to all rides which turn people upside-down.
I hope everyone is ok after going through this. I can't even imagine, being rescued that far up, after hanging there all that time. I'd throw up, too.
Rule 2: Do not trust amusement park staff
Rule 3: Do not go to amusement parks with roller coasters with staff one can not trust
you're just one of those people out for a quick buck... i am going to sue for this and that... my life sucks so much and i am a money grubbing *** that i have to sue others to make my life better cause i was to dumb to do it on my own...
you're such a scab...
I don't see where anyone has a case to sue. The ride itself didn't malfunction in any way. The park certainly can't control a power outage and it seems they did what they could to get the riders down as soon as possible. You certainly can't rush a rescue like that because the last thing you would want would be for someone to fall.
As far as backup power goes, don't hold your breath. This sounds like a small park (this isn't Disney we're talking about) and I doubt this kind of thing would happen often enough for them to justify spending the money required for something like that.
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"You can't always tell if a person is malnourished with your eyes," said Dr. Marinos Elia, a professor of clinical nutrition and metabolism at Southampton University. "People may be eating too much food, but they may not be eating enough fruits and vegetables."
"The cause could be a (tree) limb or as simple as an animal (on the lines)," said Mark Hunt, general manager of customer service for Entergy.'
Never heard of Entergy Corp. Must be a cheap, fly by nighter syphoning off a real energy company, and the amusement park capitalizing on a no name to save a buck. Correct me if I am wrong.
Something as simple as an animal? Like a squirrel or bird? Whoah! That happens all the time!
Would not go near that "amusement" park again.
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Good try, but you need one more variable before coming up with that solution. The UPS's you are referring to could never handle that kind of current. Now, but getting a FERRUPS System and having 10 12Volt Batteries in series, you would have sufficient current to finish up the ride.
Cedar Point, OH is my place, go every year. My wife and then ten year old got stuck on the Raptor (not upside down) but high up on a platform for about twenty minutes.
We were told an auto brake went on because the timing was off between the trains.
It was an eerie feeling, watching from below with my youngest not tall enough to ride. I could tell by my wife's scream that it was their train that went past us, however did not return.
When restarted, and back at the station, the operator said for their inconvenience, they all could ride again, if they wanted to, without standing in line. No one got off.
Posted by Natasha041 at 02:36 PM : Jun 11, 2007
Sorry sweety, I have lived in central NC for most of my 67+ years and I never heard of Entergy corp either. And I was allowed out at least twice a year. (grin)
This ride was built last year. (2006)
It looks like, from the description of the ride, they were just about to embark on a 65 MPH vertical drop (they were going towards the right on the picture), so there must be a lot of energy pushing that car to the top (lefting things = hard, letting them fall = easy).
Since the ride is brand new, the talk of "poor maintenance" and such.
My favorite line in this whole description (see below) and the situation of yesterday: "makes it possible to experience inverted ride elements without shoulder restraints"
Here's the link: http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/yellowpages/coasters/x-coaster_magicsp.shtml
(Is someone going to ask who John Galt is now?)
;)
Maybe a bush was on the lines!? Or the animal was hiding behind a bush??
Must have been George's fault also?
Jenny
http://www.spaml.com
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by tiffercita
June 13, 2007 3:33 PM PDT
- Oh, guess what I just saw. A 10 year old girl died after getting off of a ride at Six Flags. I bet you have all heard of that place. She had a history of heart problems. Should the family be able to sue?!
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