Accident at Florida fair!

I was watching my local news tonight, and there was a ride at a fair in Florida (don't know where) where a kid flew out of a ride; and it was caught on camera! It was a ride called the Kite Flyer by Zamperla (http://www.zamperlarides.com/main/kite_flyer1.htm). The kid some how managed to squeeze out of the restraints and fell onto the concrete...one of the ride ops saw this happnening and tried to catch the kid, but he missed when the car went by and the kid fell to the pavement. The kid went to the hospital for minor cuts and a bump on the head and is ok, but that's a very scary thought. The ride remains closed.

I tried looking for the story on my local news site, but I can't find it. I'll post the link as soon as I find it.

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"...they came like a winged curse. A twin plague of demonic dragons!" - Dueling Dragons

I saw this on the preview for our 11:00 news (WGCL Atlanta). The video will be shown then.

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My two favorite coasters are named Superman.
Nitro, Gemini, Laser, Ice, Thunder...The American Gladiators!

Let me know where the fair was, I thought it might be in South Florida b/c the Broward County Fair is here

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"...they came like a winged curse. A twin plague of demonic dragons!" - Dueling Dragons

It was in californi***
joe.'s avatar

I saw it on the news here in Detroit.

Stupid kid.

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"I own you!"
"SUCKA!!!!!!!"
-quotes I have been known to exclaim on coasters.

Here is the link to the story. I submitted to news earlier should be there within next couple of days. The video shows the kid fall right out.

http://www.thekcrachannel.com/sac/news/localnews/stories/news-localnews-162422920020820-200834.html

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Army Rangers lead the way

How was he stupid kid they put the wrong height requirements on ride and he was too short it was the fairs fault.

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Army Rangers lead the way

*** This post was edited by supermandl on 8/21/2002. ***

It's a shame, that ride is a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I found that the sled behind you can smack into your legs, a major downside.

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Tuesday's Gone With The Wind.
Elijah Rock.
Is it written in the stars?
La Vie Boheme!!!

stoogemanmoe's avatar
The video does not work for me.

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Beer, my soon to be wife, coasters, and the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Is this a great country or what!!
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stoogemanmoe


If the kid was not tall enough, it is the park's fault. If the kid was forced on by his mother, it was her fault. I really don't think you can blame a three year old for this. Only a kid who does not fit the height requirements or is DETERMINED to get out b/c he was forced on could fall out. The video shows he was hanging on for dear life for a few seconds. The mother says the employees did nothing, but the video clearly shows that an op risked injury to go under to try and catch the boy.

Anyways, it was shocking to see it on video, I'd hate to see such a thing in real life.

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My two favorite coasters are named Superman.
Nitro, Gemini, Laser, Ice, Thunder...The American Gladiators!

stoogemanmoe's avatar
Ok. I got to see the video. Why did the ride owner have the height requirement set below the allowed limit? Also, why did the mother allow her two year old to ride alone? Everywhere I've seen this ride, you are required to ride with a responsible person over 16. The ride owner is at fault for the height requirement and the mother is at fault for allowing her two year old to ride by himself. The kid is lucky he didn't have any broken bones. I have seen ride ops at my county fair turn away little kids that want to ride by themselves on this ride. Also, what the heck was the ride op thinking by picking the kid up off the ground? That could have caused paralysis to the kid if there was something wrong internally. This just goes to prove once agian, that people don't think in an emergency, and also that parents need to act more responsible where children are concerned.

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Beer, my soon to be wife, coasters, and the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Is this a great country or what!!
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stoogemanmoe


I saw it on CNN this evening around 6:30 or so and yes the accident occured in California not in Florida.

I wonder why someone would ever put their child onto a ride when they clearly don't meet the height requirements and why in the world would the ride ops let him on in the first place?

It's just another reason why I don't trust carnie rides at all.

Lord Gonchar's avatar

I saw it on CNN and the mother claimed the height requirement said 36 inches. The boy was 38 and 1/2 inches. A reporter measured the height sign in front of the ride and it was 42 inches.

The worst part is the people they interviewed all placed the blame on the ride-op for letting the boy ride. :(

This goes back to the many conversations we had this past summer as to why you shouldn't try to sneak your kids onto rides that they're clearly not meeting the requirements for.

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 15

It happened at the California State fair, not in florida. The kid was up to 6" too short.
rollergator's avatar

Anyone else here been on a Kite Flyer....I'm really thinking he was riding face up, and when his butt started to slide out, he couldn't hold himself in....I rode both ways just to check out the experience, and it definitely was more disorienting that way....I definitely felt more "secure" riding face down.....glad to hear he wasn't seriously hurt, and always hoping for something positive to come out of it....most places are pretty serious about checking height, and someone's gonna take the blame...

bill, confused for a second thinking we had accidents at fairs in two states....whew!

*** This post was edited by rollergator on 8/22/2002. ***

Lord Gonchar's avatar
Well rollergator, CNN showed video of the kid falling out (the ride-op did do his best to catch the kid, in his defense) and it looks as if he's falling out face down. Not that my word should be the final word, just saying...

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 15

rollergator's avatar
LG, for some reason I couldn't get the thing to run on the home PC...(not at work THIS late, lol)....I was thinking from my experience it was easier to remain in position face-down....but if the kid was TWO years old, then that's just too young IMO for the ride....thanks for clarifying!

Wasn't there a chart against which to check the height of the kid??? If not, this is just unfair to the ride op; a person must have the tools at their disposal to make a valid decision.

I'm very glad the kid is ok though.

The child met the hieght requirement posted they did not try to sneek him on, he met the right according to the fair's sign however it was the sign that was incorrectlly labeled(by the fair) not the right manufaturer's ride requirement for this ride. The fair is just lucky no one else fell out being the wrong height.

Height requirement for this ride from manufacturer is 42inches the sign out front of ride read 36 inches the fair was off by 6inches. Anyone who had measured there kids that where taller than 36 but shorter than 42 inches had no idea that they where riding it wrong and where risking injury to there children.

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Army Rangers lead the way

*** This post was edited by supermandl on 8/22/2002. ***

Picking up the child like the ride-op did when he hit the ground is human nature and the mother would've done the same thing if the ride-op hadn't beat her to it. The reason she mentioned that the kid could have had a severy injury and not moved is obviously because someone mentioned it to her, like a lawyer. She's already taking him for another MRI. She sees the dollar signs already.

The height requirement was definitely set too low, though.

Closed topic.

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