10th Anniv. of PKI'S Black Sunday

If ya look at todays Roller Coaster Rollback, you will notice today is the 10th anniv. of PKI'S Black Sunday. Can't believe that has been 10 yrs already.

Did the third man in the pond escape being electrocuted?

I heard about this, though I don't remember, I was three. Could someone in detail descride what happened?

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SFGAm: SCREAM. THRILL. REPEAT. Two New Coasters in 2001!

What is Black Sunday? Never heard of it.

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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
the Beasts` Den

Black Sunday was when PKI had two accidents in one day. The first one was when a woman, who was drunk, fell from Flight Commander ride. The park concluded it was the manufacter's fault for the ride, which was Intamin who built it. That's why it was torn down. The other was when another drunk fell into the pond where Viking Fury is. A worker died of electricution from a pump that malfunctioned while he tried to rescue the drunk. The drunk survived. That's why the park only has two places where you can drink beer.

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Bill Yost a.k.a. THE BEASTmaster
www.geocities.com/byostie & http://216.71.92.174/pkizone/index.html

*** This post was edited by THE BEASTmaster on 6/9/2001. ***

...And that same beer garden is one of those places...
Actually, I believe the pond incident was first. The first drunk guy survived, but a park security guard was killed. When the second accident happened, there was some talk of the (intoxicated) victim being distracted by the helicopters and such over by the beer garden.
It was determined that there was a design flaw with the Flight Commander, but that was fixed and other changes were made to the ride, and the ride re-opened. It actually operated for a couple of years after the accident before it was finally taken out. Now there is a bungee trampoline extra-pay attraction on the site.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

14 years or so ago, my family was visiting PKI (then just King's Island), and there was a giant thunderstorm. Evidently some musical performer was walking to his car carrying his instrument, and he was struck by lightning and killed.

Again, I'm not sure about exactly how many years ago it happened, but I know it was around that time. So I wonder if PKI is the only park with that unfortunate death toll?

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A New World. A New Technology. One Last Hope for Salvation. Neon Genesis Evangelion

Thanks for explaining Black Sunday. I didnt know about it.

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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
the Beasts` Den

I knew about the plane incident, but I never knew about the other guy falling into the pond!

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The Pens will win the Stanley Cup in 2002!

God I bet that park is going to be haunted by multiple people. I already now about the little girl that haunts the park by playing hide and seak with the tram drives but I bet in a another ten years or so there is going to be 1 drunk lady, one pist of security guard and a musician to haunt the park with the little girl.

JORDON DUNHAM said:
"God I bet that park is going to be haunted by multiple people. I already now about the little girl that haunts the park by playing hide and seak with the tram drives but I bet in a another ten years or so there is going to be 1 drunk lady, one pist of security guard and a musician to haunt the park with the little girl."

I worked there the year and day the band member was killed by a lightning strike in the parking lot. I worked in the trams/tolls department (and I remember the ghost stories out at the old cemetery in the north lot, but we were usually too busy looking for those people who thought sex in their cars was more important). The weather that day was borderline tornadic and there were a lot of ambulance runs. I'm just glad I wasn't in the employee parking lot at the time of the strike.

Chris

Flight Commander looked like a bunch of little jets on arms that lifted the cars up and down, I think by the riders control, as it went around. The flaw was that, despite OTSR's, a single rider could slide out of their seat into the empty seat. The investigation concluded that's what happened with the intoxicated woman.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

The musical performer died in the parking lot while running to his car. 14 Years ago my brother worked as a singer in the barbershop quartet that performed around the park, and was running through the lot with a bunch of people who had just gotten off work. The way my brother tells it, the gentleman was about 40 or 50 yards in front of him when the lightning struck, and it knocked everyone to the ground. The lightning blew a hole in the guy's leg, and he died shortly thereafter.

Interesting that you should mention it... I hadn't thought of it since he came home and told the story.

Jacob

It is truely sad for any injury or death at a park. Personally, I have never seen anyone injured or falling to their death/ being killed. I think that we should have a moment of silence for these lost souls that died having fun/being drunk............................................................................

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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
the Beasts` Den

I remember riding Flight Commander. I also remember the day that the accident happened. I was a little freaked out and wondered how someone could fall out of it. Anyway, I can't believe it's been 10 years. If you had asked me yesterday when that happened..I would have said 6 or 7...not 10.

Jman

KI does not have the greatest safety record, but when you look at each incident, it was STUPIDITY that caused almost every one.

Sure the lady slid out of the seat in the Flight Commander because it didn't have a seat divider. But she was drunk and incoherent enough that she could not hold on, or passed out.

Drunk or not, what business does anyone have in the pond areas of the park? While the employees attempting to rescue the man were not killed from their stupidity, they were killed from someone else's.

And lets not forget the guy climbing on the Eiffel Tower on senior night who fell to his death. When did the eiffel tower become a jungle gym? Stupid again.

I hate to be so heartless about those who have passed, but a park is no place for ANY violation of the rules. This is a place full of HEAVY MACHINERY that can be a lot of fun if treated with respect, or a fatal accident waiting to happen if not.

Walkways are provided to where we should be, and do not go where we should not be. And there is NO reason for intoxicated/drugged people to be at a place full of dangerous machinery. PERIOD.

I am done with my rampage now.

The following was posted during a club discussion about this same incident a few weeks ago. It does provide a few of the details.

One man fell into the Oktoberfest pond, followed by a friend attempting to save him, followed by a Security guard attempting to save both of them. Number one survived.
One hour later, Candy Taylor, 3.5 drunk, was on Flight Commander with the harnesses open beside her. Upon seeing Care Flight's arrival for the electrocutions, her drunken knee hit the joystick which, before the overhaul, was higher than the molded console. Out she went via the open harness beside her. That accident was blamed upon a manufacturing defect.

Flight Commander was like XK-1 at Knott's Berry Farm. There is one still at PGA.

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"ok everyone go ahead and pull down on your shoulder restraint so you feel nice and stuck!"

I remember hearing about Black Sunday. I thought it was a joke the first time I heard about it. I remember hearing about it on National News.

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BMCOASTER

bmcoaster@wi.rr.com

I had ridden the Flight Commander and I still wonder how she fell out. One thing is that when you rotated the car it did it real slow so you did 'fall' out of your seat but into the OTSR's. Still I can not imagine how she did it.