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pluk

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16 hours ago, planenut said:

Sad incident - Vortex was closed all day today Thursday I suspect there would be some sort of investigation but nobody present.

Yeah, I asked Thorpe why Vortex was down all yesterday because thats when I visited and I mentioned about the Ohio State

Fair accident; and they replied with the thoughts to all affected in that accident but vortex is temporarily closed as a precaution

and they are in close contact with HSE on developments as all our rides undergo thorough maintenance regimes and subject

to annual inspections by accredited third party inspection bodies and regular audits by HSE. 

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Statement released from KMG. Doesn't read well for them to be honest; excessive corrosion of an interior (ie not visibly checkable) beam meant an arm simply sheared off. Does not appear to be anything the owner had done wrong or neglected to check ride properly under previous guidelines, new technical bulliten issued to ensure sufficient checks completed to this potential weakness in future. Does not really instill confidence!

Pic shows it looks as if it has just torn apart.

 

fire-ball-break-10tv.jpg

 

Dear Mr./Mrs.,

KMG has conducted an investigation to determine the cause of an accident with a KMG Fireball. In this accident which happened on July 26th, a passenger carrying gondola detached from the supporting sweep arm of the ride also known as a KMG Afterburner. This particular ride was 18 years old.

The investigation included a visit to the accident scene in the company of a team of experts at the accident site in Columbus, Ohio, USA. They reviewed video footage of the incident and conducted a metallurgical inspection of the ride.

It was determined that excessive corrosion on the interior of the gondola support beam dangerously reduced the beam’s wall thickness over the years. This finally led to the catastrophic failure of the ride during operation.

KMG has reviewed the results of the inspection and worked with industry safety experts to develop an inspection protocol in the form of a Safety Bulletin to allow properly inspected and maintained rides to safely reopen.

We trust to have you informed sufficiently.

Albert Kroon

Product Manager  

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They'll just ask for more regular checks at an internal level... Anything even approaching a hairline fracture will be replaced instantly, as it's quite likely that this could have developed since the annual testing (assuming the American ADIPS works to a similar level as the UK)...

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From the wording of the statement I think it is quite clear that the previous KMG guidance did not identify this as a particular area or known weakness that required any specific checks. It is telling that they have issued a new technical bulletin rather than highlighting a previously issued bulletin or directive; this is something they had not told owners to do before or they would have very clearly highlighted that they had, which would have been much better for their reputation.

 

At a guess it is probably an area that was given an expected life significantly longer than the 18 years the ride has lasted so had not been subject to rigorous checks yet. The question then is why did it fail? I suppose it's either that it was simply not strong enough by design (unlikely), an unnoticed fault in fabrication (possible), or something about the rides usage, storage or maintenance has caused the fatigue to occur prematurely (likely). I'm going to guess the outer casing has held in water over time, rotting the inside. Whether the fault then lies with KMG for a design which could allow this to happen, or owner for letting it occur, will likely be the subject of some long and expensive court battles...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since we don't have a Bobbejaanland thread...

 

http://www.looopings.nl/weblog/8365/Bobbejaanland-sluit-achtbaan-Typhoon-na-botsing.html

 

The Belgian park's Gerstlauer Eurofighter, Typhoon, had a "low speed" crash in the station last week.  Seems like the final breaks didn't work properly, causing the car that had finished the circuit to crash into the one being loaded in the station.  The ride is closed whilst it's investigated. 

 

Oh Gerstlauer...

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
On 17/09/2017 at 11:05 PM, pluk said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41300031

Man dies in Hong Kong Ocean Park haunted maze attraction. Don't go into restricted areas appears to be the message, although some maze restricted areas can be easily stumbled into.

 

This was a genuinely terrifying-sounding incident since it was an alone attraction as well.  The section had no actors in, so the person in question went into a restricted area unknowingly, going to dangerous areas all thinking it was part of the experience.  It's hard to imagine how the build up to that must feel.  

 

---

 

In other news, Bobbejaanland (again!) - A man was seriously injured after falling between cars on the park's waltzer-like ride:  https://nos.nl/artikel/2200183-man-zwaargewond-door-val-uit-attractie-bobbejaanland.html

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On 28/10/2017 at 6:48 PM, BaronC. said:

In other news, Bobbejaanland (again!) - A man was seriously injured after falling between cars on the park's waltzer-like ride:  https://nos.nl/artikel/2200183-man-zwaargewond-door-val-uit-attractie-bobbejaanland.html

Thought that sounded a bit odd, to fall between the gaps on a waltzer some floor would have to be missing. This was an old superbob. On any of those old raised round rides it is possible to go between the cars into the pit, but you'd normally have to be doing something quite silly to manage it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

For me, it all depends on the cause of an accident as to whether I would consider going on certain rides in the future.

I have no problem going back on the Smiler as the ride has always been mechanically safe and was an operational failure.

As for KMG Afterburners, the picture is pretty condemning for me. It wasn’t even a joint, to see the structural steel beam torn off like a baguette, and the fact they can’t be easily inspected is very concerning. I certainly won’t be going on the one at Winter Wonderland this year.

 

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1 hour ago, Stuntman707 said:

For me, it all depends on the cause of an accident as to whether I would consider going on certain rides in the future.

I have no problem going back on the Smiler as the ride has always been mechanically safe and was an operational failure.

As for KMG Afterburners, the picture is pretty condemning for me. It wasn’t even a joint, to see the structural steel beam torn off like a baguette, and the fact they can’t be easily inspected is very concerning. I certainly won’t be going on the one at Winter Wonderland this year.

 

The thing is, that now it has happened all rides had to be checked and will need to be regularly re checked, to prevent this happening again.  Ultimately the american accident was allowed to happen as the showman stopped getting the ride services and checked by KMG, so the arm may not have been inspected to servicing specifications.

 

KMG have an overall have one of the best saftey record in the industry, as a one off incident that has now been identified and measures put in place, it wont put me off riding one again. 

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