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Ride Accidents


pluk

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Let's keep in mind that Europa have access to a vast amount of engineering power, and have a space to keep a huge amount of spare parts / resources (thanks to being Mack). Very few parks in the world have that option, and I'm sure many parks envy the position they're in. Equally, it's incredible from a H&S perspective that they're in a position to reopen the ride less than 24hrs later - even if a UK park, for example, were able to replace and test a chain in such a time frame, a H&S investigation would delay a reopening.

 

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In a slightly more light hearted accident, Billybird Park in Zeelandsedijk, Netherlands, has had to close down a recently opened slide in their park, following a few incidents like this:

 

 

Just looking at the slide, you have to wonder how this wasn't foreseen...

190819glijeor.jpg

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1 hour ago, JoshC. said:

Let's keep in mind that Europa have access to a vast amount of engineering power, and have a space to keep a huge amount of spare parts / resources (thanks to being Mack). Very few parks in the world have that option, and I'm sure many parks envy the position they're in. Equally, it's incredible from a H&S perspective that they're in a position to reopen the ride less than 24hrs later - even if a UK park, for example, were able to replace and test a chain in such a time frame, a H&S investigation would delay a reopening.

Europa certainly have that advantage but I think a lot of it does come down to the fact that they just know how to run a theme park efficiently.

 

Look at the fire, what would of been a huge setback for most other parks (masses of burnt space and theming ruined) is now being redone and made even better. The operations on all the rides also I think speaks volumes about how competent Europa are at running the place.. Barely any downtime, unthinkable dispatches, etc!

 

Sure they have a lot of resources due to being owned by Mack but I do think they still deserve some slack..

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Oh, definitely - credit where credit is due, Europa do what they do very well. There's no denying that.

 

All I'm saying is it's easy to take for granted the unique situation the park is in, and how much that effects the operation of the park. They have a vested interest to run their Mack rides in the best way possible, meaning they can throw money at getting high level of staff, and high quality staff, to run the rides, along with expert engineers. And that naturally means any non-Mack rides have to be in the same position.

 

Few parks could justify the level of investment it takes to upkeep the park to the standard Europa are able to, nor the way the park operates on a day-to-day basis.

 

That's not to take away from what Europa do; they're brilliant and tick all the rights boxes. But still, they are the exception to the rule.

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Europa are simply magnificent and should be an example to many parks. Of course their manufacturing position and the area’s less rigorous H&S definitely puts them on the high ground compared to most.

 

Obvioisly the U.K. has one of the strictest safety rules out there, combined with less forgiving press and go. If that happened on a wooden coaster here, the ride would be closed for at least several months by HSE.

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44 minutes ago, Loggers Creek said:

Europa are simply magnificent and should be an example to many parks.

No, they shouldn't. This is precisely the point I'm trying to make. The resources, motivation and set up of Europa Park is completely unlike any other park. No park should see them as an example to work towards, because they cannot operate like them and cannot achieve their successes in the same way. 

 

Lessons can be learned, but they're obvious and basic ones.

44 minutes ago, Loggers Creek said:

If that happened on a wooden coaster here, the ride would be closed for at least several months by HSE.

It wouldn't. There would be a small period of downtime, to fix/replace chain (whatever is more appropriate) and, because it's the UK, reassure the public that everything is safe. But there would be no need for the HSE to force an extended closure (especially given no one was injured).

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8 minutes ago, JoshC. said:

No, they shouldn't. This is precisely the point I'm trying to make. The resources, motivation and set up of Europa Park is completely unlike any other park. No park should see them as an example to work towards, because they cannot operate like them and cannot achieve their successes in the same way. 

 

Lessons can be learned, but they're obvious and basic ones.

It wouldn't. There would be a small period of downtime, to fix/replace chain (whatever is more appropriate) and, because it's the UK, reassure the public that everything is safe. But there would be no need for the HSE to force an extended closure (especially given no one was injured).

Just because a park cannot realistically reach a milestone is not to say they have to go the full way, but take some influences from this scenario.

 

I get that storing sufficient ride parts and the like is unrealistic, but there are still other ways parks can be efficient. Like I said, Europa are in a very fortunate position with parts and maintenance.

 

The thing that makes Europa such a great attraction and place to visit is the sheer dedication the Mack family pour into the park, whether that be the countless attractions, shows, pride they have in their premise. Not to mention their ever-onwards upgrades and progressions within, whether that be facelifting one of their worst dark rides into something charming or constantly adding new shows. If these are not to be examples within the park industry I don’t know what is.

 

Ok, that may have been an exaggeration on HSE, but I can guarantee that the general stricter rules on safety would prevent a U.K. woodie opening any quicker than several weeks after happening solely for checks and inspections let alone reordering of parts.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49868179

 

A serious accident involving Quimera at La Feria Chapultepec Magico, Mexico City, killing 2 people and injuring 2 more.

 

Reports say people fell from the train. BBC's article seems to use 'crash' and 'derailed' interchangeably though.

 

The coaster opened in 2007 and was formerly Magnum Force at Flamingo Land, where it operated between 2000 and 2005.

 

Just as a warning: there's some pretty graphic images circulating social media / some foreign news articles on this.

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To clarify the mechanics of this, the last car derailed on the long sweeping turn after a loop, leaving the track and coliding with a support beam then the ground. It looks like the fatalities would have been pretty much instantaneous.

 

As a side note, the same ride was involved in an accident at Flamingo land when it stuck a worker who found himself somehow in the trains path.

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12 hours ago, Stuntman707 said:

WDW Skyliner gondolas have crashed. Sounds like the Gondolas have been running too close to one another as they approach the station at speed. Reports are that no-one has been injured.

 

https://wdwnt.com/2019/10/breaking-an-accident-has-occurred-on-the-disney-skyliner-at-riviera-resort-station/

 

 

From reading reports it was just after a power outage - somone who claims to have been on it at the time says it was more of a crush in the station than a crash - not ideal just a couple days of being open mind!

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2 hours ago, pluk said:

Looks like the station rail and feeder has kept moving when the cable has been stopped, so the gondalas leaving the station had nowhere to go and bunched up.

Obviously that should not be allowed to happen!

Where is the e-stop hopefully the Disney employee responsible will be sanctioned. 

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7 hours ago, Glitch said:

Where is the e-stop hopefully the Disney employee responsible will be sanctioned. 

It should not be possible for that part of the ride to operate while the main cable is inactive. If the main cable was inactive that would suggest suggests the ride had effectively been e-stopped, but not all parts of the ride had halted at the same time.

 

All educated guesswork bit either way that this can happen at all suggests strongly a hardware/software failure, not human error.

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Looking into yesterday's incident it a little further, the inquest into this rides fatality in Australia cited a serious design flaw in the airmaxx 360's restraints with excessive gaps to the front and side between the OTSR and seat.

 

That being the case you'd expect to see some amendments made to the restraints wouldn't you? Well...

 

Australia, immediately after fatality22a5abcd0e8df54fac3e0db248a23d66.jpeg

 

https___prod.static9.net.au___media_Images_2014_Septembe4r_14_1409_ride_aap.jpg

 

Hull, immediately after this incident

 

0_SWNS_HULL_FAIR_001.jpg

 

Restrain appears identical to me. They do look incredibly narrow leaving a big gap between each shoulder. Will be interesting to find out the build of this rider and whether they have let history repeat itself.

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On 10/8/2019 at 2:58 PM, pluk said:

Will be interesting to find out the build of this rider and whether they have let history repeat itself.

Safeco manufactured the Airmaxx 360 smashing jump, they also manufacture the jumping frogs. However there have been no issues as far as I'm aware with the Jump & Smile. 

 

I'm shocked that no amendments were made to the ride after the girl died on it in Australia and I'm surprised a British showman purchased the ride without checking with Health & Safety standards. Surely they knew purchasing the ride that someone had just been killed on it and further safety measures need to be put into place?

 

I can't see this staying in the UK to be honest, I imagine it will be purchased by somewhere further afield e.g. Russia, Czech republic. However, if it does continue to tour in the UK, I certainly won't be going on it after 2 similar accidents within the rides lifetime.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 11/11/2019 at 6:14 PM, EpicSmatty said:

An update from the Drayton Manor case: the death was ruled an accident

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50375840

I hope once the CCTV has been fully installed and the training on water rescues the ride will re-open in the new year, it's a horrible tragedy but personally the children should not have been unaccompanied by an adult from the school even if one child did not want to go on the ride, otherwise she likely wouldn't have ignored the rules and stood up.

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