Posted
The Lake Delton police chief says the accident at the Dells Extreme World tower, where a 12-year-old girl fell to the ground, is likely the result of operator error. He said the net had not been raised off the ground and the platform had not been raised to the correct height.
The girl's father, a doctor, assumed she was dead when she hit the ground, but brought her back via CPR.
Read more from CBS Early Show and WKOW/Madison.
That's seriously messed up. All this time I assumed the net was at least off the ground, if not high enough, but this is nuts.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
HOLY BLEEP!
I refuse to believe a op would intentionally do something like this, Im sure they in shock themselves. Im also certain that there should be some Net in place system before a rider could be released. WOW!
Revived by your own dad?
If this is the case, My assumptions did just that ASS/U/ME and I was wrong.
Either way, NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD AT ALL.
Her fall wasn't broken at all?
HOLY BLEEP!
Wow... this is truly amazing that she survived a fall like that... with no net breaking her fall at all. Incredible.
I also find it interesting that the reports are saying that the bucket didn't go to the top of the tower before they dropped the girl out of it. It sounds like the bucket stopped about 40 feet short of the top, the girl was lowered, and dropped while they were still trying to get the net ready. Very strange... I wonder if she freaked out and they offered to drop her from a lower height, and that's where the protocol began to go out the window?
Josh M.
If the report is accurate (a big IF in today's media) then I just cannot imagine how she survived that fall. Having been involved with amusement park accidents before I have no doubt that there are a thousand reason about how an operator could be distracted, make a mistake, etc. But, in today's age it seems like there should be multiple redundencies.
I didn't like the look as this attraction before I saw it and would never have tried it. But, if I had, I would expect to not sustain a life threatening injury as a result.
Such a tragedy and hopefully she will fully recover.
A forty foot fall IS very survivable, however, it usually results in injury. Because of the predetermined fall position, however, she was being dropped right on her back and was given no opportunity to optimize her landing to do less damage to herself. My guess is there was probably severe spinal trauma and that the girl will never walk again. If she does, it will be a true miracle.
Again, the true sadness here is the park's lack of financial resources to compensate the victim. Hopefully the park has some insurance coverage to offset her medical bills, but I find that unlikely due to the high amount of debt that is unpaid.
Certain victory.
Kick The Sky said:
A forty foot fall IS very survivable, however, it usually results in injury. Because of the predetermined fall position, however, she was being dropped right on her back and was given no opportunity to optimize her landing to do less damage to herself. My guess is there was probably severe spinal trauma and that the girl will never walk again. If she does, it will be a true miracle.Again, the true sadness here is the park's lack of financial resources to compensate the victim. Hopefully the park has some insurance coverage to offset her medical bills, but I find that unlikely due to the high amount of debt that is unpaid.
Its 40ft from the bucket to the net, Another 40+ to the ground There are estimates that she fell as much as 100ft in the articles. CBS Morning show has the video with the father.
Father "I watched several before her and when I heard that thud, I knew she was dead, She was dead with beading out head orifices unconscious and unresponsive"
He apparently is a dr. himself and took measures to stabilize her HIMSELF!
Incredible and Incredibly irresponsible by the ops. I'm not sure if the Bucket person is in charge of the net but checking to see its there would be at minimum a requirement.
Holy Bleep!, If she does die its involuntary manslaughter, MINIMUM.
You missed the part of the story where it states that the bucket was not at full height when she was dropped, hence the 40-foot fall. Anyway, if these rides already have a sensor system in place that indicate when the net is in place, why the hell isn't there a lock on the release that prevents it from deploying until the net is in place? Relying on operators so much os a horrible design.
When The passenger platform is raised, it also raises the Safety Net with it. The platform needs to be raised to 140ft thus the net would be at the 40ft mark. In this case, the ride op Clearly should know this to not drop a rider any lower than the 140ft mark.
Also @KTS, passengers load into the platform at ground level and are raised vertically 140ft. It then starts to bring up the safety net at 100ft since its attached to the platform.
This ride is in one of the Discovery Channel's "intense ride" shows or something along that point...
First and foremost, I wish the girl the best recovery possible. Very sad and I feel for her family.
Second, all I can think is "Epic Fail". How did they design this ride without some sort of interlocking safety mechanism, or design it so the net raised to the point of safety with the bucket from the initial climb?
Watch this video. Everything is on the ground when the rider is attached. The net is raised with the cabin, and the trap door is opened when they get to the top. As you can see from the video the net is not pulled off the ground until the cabin reaches a certain height. From the story it sounds like the the girl was released too soon (which would have required opening the trap door) and the net was still on the ground. As others have said, I don't understand how this can happen. It does seem very low tech, so I'm not sure what can be done to insure it doesn't happen again. It looks like they need some time of lockout device that will not allow the trap door to open until the cabin is all the way at the top, and perhaps another device to signal that the net is properly in place. I also cannot believe there is no secondary device. Perhaps a hole in the ground filled with foam covered with a breakaway platform they can walk on to load and unload. If I owned a park, I would not want one of these rides.
:(
The owners of this park need to be burned at the stake. Seriously.
-Travis
www.youtube.com/TSVisits
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