AIR breaks down - CoasterBuzz

www.sixflagsnews.com is reporting that AIR suffered a breakdown. A bar that raises and lowers the seats snapped. http://www.sixflagsnews.com/Air%20Suffers%20Major%20Breakdown.htm

I would contribute it to news, but there is only like 2 or 3 lines of text there.

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Bolt Yourself In

Everyone's overreacting to this.

I have confirmation from people who were at Alton Towers *today* that AIR is running just fine and operating with both stations. A bar did crack, yes, but the ride suffered hardly any down time.

-Nate

If you check the boards from days past you'll find that a post similar to this was closed.

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Excalibur Crew for 2002!

That is because that thread had no proof, this one does. This one should stay open.

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Jon- Give me a dollar then visit my band's website-http//www.geocities.com/wildcardska/home.html

You knnow, in any of those pics I see no real proof of anything that "snapped." All I see is crew looking at the switch, a crew member talking to the passengers on a train, and in one pic, a bar hanging over the side of the track. I'm under the impression that is what "snapped," but how do we know it's not supposed to be that way?

The only thing that I've seen is that the horizontal bar attached to the one side of station track that "hides" the restraint release bar somehow seperated. A similar problem could have happened on virtually any B&M ride.

I agree... this is a lot of fuss over nothing.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Ok, here's what has happened. Air, like most other coasters runs with 2 running rails. However, in the station, 2 extra running rails are used to tilt the train into the prone position and back. These two rails are in the shape of rectangular boxes, so that the single wheels which are on the very side of the air trains slot into them. When the train is stopped in the station, a massive weight moves the extra running rails up and down, which pulls the wheels, which pulls an arm, which tilts the trains. Now what has happened is that one of the running rails has not been able to take the weight of the train and has warped and then snapped. You can see in this picture http://www.ttdb.com/sw5live/19march/19march31.jpg

the bar that you can see should be completely straight with the side wheels running inside that rail. but as you can see, although the pillar is hiding it, it has warped and snapped. Therefore it is not possible to be able to move the trains into the positions properly as the wheels will not travel through that bar because it needs to be straight

That thing is majorly warped,it looks like B&M bit off a little more "swiss cheese" than they could chew with air's design.On the vekoma's your'e less likely to have this sort of problem because the trains while in the station are sitting above the rail so when they move into the flying position they are assisted by gravity where as with the B&M design you have inverted trains which have to work against gravity to be moved into and out of the prone position.

*** This post was edited by BATWING FAN SFA on 3/21/2002. ***

Does anyone know if the rail in question was still attached to the actuator/lift mechanism? I can't tell because the support beam is in the way. It would provide a clearer idea of the possible cause of failure. Myabe I'm mistaken but it's strange that single beam would have broken away from the actuator or even snapped due to the weight of the car while the other beams remained in tact. I'm thinking the actuator jammed or some mechanism on the car and forced the beam down while the rest of the beams lifted.

But I don't know enough about how the system works so I'm just taking a stab in the dark. Thanks for the info Khan. I'm curious to know what's behind that beam though!

*** This post was edited by mdeng on 3/21/2002. ***

WCS4488 said:
That is because that thread had no proof, this one does. This one should stay open.

Sorry, but a link to a story on Six Flags News is hardly proof.

I was just wondering, how many of you guys actually live in Europe?

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Ride Raging Bull, De javu, V2, or Batman. Decisions Decisions.

go here you see more proof big boy

They may not have provided enough strength, but that sure makes more sense than Vekoma's on-board hydraulics and PLC's!

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Another classic case of enthuasiasts blowing a simple problem way out of proportion.

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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com

the bar that you can see should be completely straight with the side wheels running inside that rail. but as you can see, although the pillar is hiding it, it has warped and snapped. Therefore it is not possible to be able to move the trains into the positions properly as the wheels will not travel through that bar because it needs to be straight"

oh..but it's just "a lot of fuss over nothing"

*** This post was edited by thrillman on 3/22/2002. ***

Jeff, I strongly agree. Why put all the electronics/hydraulics on the train when you can keep it all in the station where it is protected from vibration and weather? I guess they (Vekoma) really wanted to recline the trains on the lift. But that is almost never the case. B&M definatly has the right idea as far as that is concerned. I do think that Vekoma's restraints are very comfortable however and do give freedom of arm movement. Also, I think it is probably more comfortable to lie on your back (Vekoma) on the lift rater than on the restraints(B&M).

I can't believe this is even being talked about. At all.

Yes, AIR broke down for awhile during the day. It was back up and running (albeit with one station) later on that day. Furthermore, *both* stations were in operation the very next day. And people are still quick to jump to, "I guess B&M just don't know what they heck they're doing." Coasters break down, people, and no matter what the cause - it happens. Apparently it's now front page news every time a ride suffers from some downtime (begin sarcasm) If that's the case, I really can't wait for this summer when rides are breaking down daily. (end sarcasm)

-Nate

*** This post was edited by coasterdude318 on 3/22/2002. ***

needless quotation removed -J

I thought this was a rollercoaster discussion board. Pardon me if I'm mistaken. It seems to be that AIR is the first of a kind coaster and is getting a lot of attention, and for it to have a part break like it did within a week of opening, I would think that would be newsworthy.

*** This post was edited by Jeff on 3/22/2002. ***

AIR isn't a "first of a kind " coaster.That honor goes to stealth at PGA.

I thought there were two flyers before that, if I'm not mistaken. I know one is Birdmen, but I don't know the other.

So what if AIR just broke down within a week of opening? How many problems were there with Stealth, X-Flight, and Batwing?

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A Vekoma SLC would do Nebraska wonders! :-)