Demon Drop/Free Fall Brakes

What happens if the car on Demon Drop/Free Fall (don't know the "official" name) flies through the brakes? How is it stopped then? Or does it just fly off the end?

The brakes won't fail. They are just like coaster brakes. If they fail, they close. They need electricity, steam, air, or whatever powers them to be open. But, they need nothing to be closed.

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Everybodys got something to hide except for me and my monkey! *** This post was edited by TrBiggar on 6/12/2001. ***

Modern Intamin freefalls, however, use magnets, so they require no power at all. They can't fail.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

What if something really bad happens, and they don't close?

What about S&S turbo drops? how do they stop? Is it just compressed air? it seems like that would be able to fail...

yeah, what if you're on the top of supreme scream and you see all the lights go out...

If you see the lights go out, it's a loss of electricity. Therefore, nothing powers the brakes, and they close. The only way they could stay open that I can think of is someone putting blocks in the brakes. No one would do that though, so I don't think they can fail.

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Everybodys got something to hide except for me and my monkey!

oh i thought they had air-powered brakes or something...

Intamin freefalls/gyro drops only use power to lift the seats to the top. A magnetic brake system not unlike the ones on S:ROS and MF is used to slow the decending riders.

The first gen freefalls (Demon Drop) use a braking system similar to a roller coaster. Brake calipers are normally closed and require some sort of power to open them.

If the power goes out during any of these rides, odds are you'll be stopped during the lift which is another problem altogether.

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Scott W. Short
scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

Don't all rides have back up generators in case the first line of power goes out? I'm pretty sure most rides do. And I'm sure they have back up breaks too. I doubt they will ever fail though.
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There is no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid people.

What happened to the Edge( now Mr. Hyde's Nasty Fall). It was at SFGAm and I heard it crashed.

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"Oh no, I'v said to much. Smithers, use the amnesia ray." "You mean the revolver?" "Precisely, and when you're done be sure to wipe out your memory too". From... The Simpsons

5/22/1984 - A car on The Edge (Intamin Freefall) at Six Flags Great America broke loose from the lifting mechanism and dropped about 60 feet. The three passengers, eighth-grade boys from LaSalle, IL, were hospitalized for five days with relatively minor injuries. (from the roller coaster rollback)

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What is this that stands before me? Figure in black which points at me.-Ozzy Osbourne


*** This post was edited by RagingBullGuy on 6/12/2001. ***

Freefall brakes, like coaster brakes, have their default position as "closed". It actually takes electricity and pneumatics to "open" them. If you see the lights go off on a Turbo Drop, big deal, you'll still stop.

As Jeff said, Intamin freefalls use magnets. There isn't any magic to these things. It's just like playing with magnets when you were a kid. The resistance created slows the trains smoothly and safely.

Brakes seem to be one of the biggest misconceptions concerning coaster safety. The brakes on a ride won't "just fail" due to power outages or loss of air pressure. A loss of air pressure will, in fact, not let the brakes reopen until the system is fixed.

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Six Flags America? No, no! My name means "Sarcasm-For-All"

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MF#1RB#2BVL said:
"Don't all rides have back up generators in case the first line of power goes out? I'm pretty sure most rides do. And I'm sure they have back up breaks too."

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No, actually most rides do not. Dark rides have generators for lighting so they can be evacuated, and some parks (Kennywood being one of them) hae a generator for Giant Drop rides in case they get stuck 1/2 way.

As for the back up brakes, they're the same as the primary brakes. A second set is unnecessary.

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Could you describe the ruckus?

Actually, the Intamin second generation freefalls (AKA Giant Drops) can fail. As previously mentioned, they have magnetic brakes. Should the north and south pole somehow detach from the earth the brakes won't do a thing. Of course, when that happens I would be more concerned with other things on the planet.


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"Happy Everything"