Accident at Six Flags AstroWorld

Several riders were injured on the Texas Cyclone when a board came loose and fell down onto the train.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/102003_local_astroworld.html

Thankfully, it also appears that none of the injuries are very serious or life threatening. The ride was reportedly inspected that morning; sounds like a freak accident. Regardless, I'm sure Markey will jump all over this.
*** This post was edited by Danimales 10/20/2003 8:13:46 PM ***

I find it interesting they they'd even still run the ride after the complaint was made. When I was at Knott's this past spring a similar situation occurred, but was corrected in a completely different way.

A park-goer was passing by Ghost Rider and noticed that a board was falling off the ride. It wasn't necessarily structural, but cosmetic since the ride is an over-abundance of wood anyways. However, immediately after the person informed the ride operators that a board was falling off of Ghost Rider, they shut down the ride and called maintenance.

It took about 30 minutes to correct a fairly minor problem that most likely wouldn't have injured a rider (the loose board was right above the station roof), however, they still shut down the ride to correct the problem. At the time, I didn't understand why they didn't just pull off the board, or just wait until the end of the day to take care of it. This story is a reminder why parks should take warnings from park-goers very seriously.

~ Rob Willi

"It's really just a freak accident at this point," said Freedman. "Nothing like this has ever occurred on this ride before."

I distinctly remember back in the 80's when a train with riders was sidetracked onto the transfer track and rolled off the end. I wish I could remember more details (or then again I think I'm glad I don't).
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Nashville needs a theme park!

HeyIsntThatRob? said:

A park-goer was passing by Ghost Rider and noticed that a board was falling off the ride. It wasn't necessarily structural, but cosmetic since the ride is an over-abundance of wood anyways. However, immediately after the person informed the ride operators that a board was falling off of Ghost Rider, they shut down the ride and called maintenance.
It took about 30 minutes to correct a fairly minor problem that most likely wouldn't have injured a rider (the loose board was right above the station roof), however, they still shut down the ride to correct the problem. At the time, I didn't understand why they didn't just pull off the board, or just wait until the end of the day to take care of it. This story is a reminder why parks should take warnings from park-goers very seriously.
~ Rob Willi

Sevarl years ago, a beam fell and killed some one.

I feel bad for those people that were injured. When I ride coasters, the last thing I expect hit me was part of the ride itself!

Rentzy - If the parks many problems don't affect the attendance, I doubt that a falling beam would! :)

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Corey - Who never thought that falling lumber would injure more people than onride video! :)

Well, Last weekend at Six Flags New Orleans i saw a rider get off and express concerns about a strange noise to the operater who i believe is also a supervisor. He said ok and the rider exited and while i waited the next two trains to ride he did nothing about what he was told. Didn't pick up phone to call maint or did not even look at the train as it was on it's next run.

Of course i was not at Houston but it really would not surprise me if the ride ops really didn't call anyone due to the fact that they may get told about things many times that turn out to be ok and you just get used to the idea that normal sounds and movement might worry an unseasoned rider.

Thats just my opinion of course

I distinctly remember back in the 80's when a train with riders was sidetracked onto the transfer track and rolled off the end. I wish I could remember more details (or then again I think I'm glad I don't).
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Nashville needs a theme park!

Do you know what coaster this was thriller? I might be able to find something on it.

What a sad year for coaster fans. I am glad everyone is ok.

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http://coastertrackrecord.tripod.com/

Do you know what coaster this was thriller? I might be able to find something on it.
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While I do know what accident he refers to, it was not guest on the train but rather employees. This happened over 20 years ago. Let that incident die.

He is referring to the Texas Cylone. I believe this happened around 1983 or 1984. The train was backed out of the storage shed into the station. A few employees boarded and the train was dispatched, however the transfer track had not been moved so instead of rolling onto the lift, the train rolled back into the storage shed, crashed through a wall at the end and rolled off the end of the track. One employee was killed.

If you want the details of this, check out the news item that was posted, I've made comments there.

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Panther Modern
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