Air Gate Question - CoasterBuzz

SFGRAMBoy20 said:
The rides won't shut down for two hours. Unless, of course, you break something by doing that--which is unlikely, but possible. I'm sure they just said that so you BEHAVED. Finally, you didn't get stuck on the ride because of someone pushing on the gates. Please use some common sense.

Why don't you stop being a smart butt, and I said I got stuck on a ride because someone opened one of those gates in the lines. uh.

that would suck pete. I would go and get duct tape and put duct tape up so they couldnt walk across. But in reality, if power goes out, the gates will close automatically. I think.

If the train is parked at the platform, it's certainly more efficient, far more orderly, and possibly even safer to have would-be riders cross through the train and head down the exit ramp instead of trying to move backward through the queue. Trouble with backing up through the queue is that while the people on the platform know that the ride has gone down, the people on the stairs and in the queue don't know yet, and they're not usually inclined to make way. :(

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Who has suggested more than once that all entrance platforms ought to have chicken chutes for just this reason...

No, if the air gates are open and you lose power, they will remain open. We had that a few times this year. And the only way a ride will stop itself from pushing on the air gates is if the gates are pushed to their open position. And, with the exception of ghetto air gates, you cannot push them that far.

And Rideman, its not a good idea to have everyone cross over through the train. For one thing, if you're trying to fix things you don't want a thousand people walking through the station. For two, it really isn't safe to have that many people walking over a train, you're just asking for people to trip and get trampled in the station. That is one reason for PA systems.

*** This post was edited by SFGRAMBoy20 on 12/30/2001. ***

No one's been killed by air gates as far as I know, but there has been at least once incident of a person being killed by a coaster train returning to the station.

On Superman at SFNE they have had problems with the air gates a couple of times. A few months after they opened the ride, the air gates didn't work automatically for some reason. So a ride attendant at the front of the station would have to push really hard on the first gate to make them all open. On another occasion during the 2001 season, it sounded like there was a leak in the pipe that supplied the air b/c when ever they opened or closed the gates a loud hissing noise would happen when the gate were in motion they would move very slowly. Ever since that time I visited the gate have been slow as molasses (sp?) except, no hissing sound.

-----------------
Six Flags New England loses its "floor" for 2002!!!
Visit www.geocities.com/sfneguy for info. about SFNE!!!

hmmm.... lets not forget that gates can be dangerous for us ride ops too! especially when your controls op isnt paying attention. its not fun getting "launched" into a coaster car by an airgate!

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

srosatsfne, look up farther, I talked about how the Intamin airgates seem to lack quality.

Coaster manufacturers/designers don't produce their own air gates. They are made by seperate companies

Excuse me, SFGrAmBoy, I was just giving an example and my experience with the gates.
-----------------
Six Flags New England loses its "floor" for 2002!!!
Visit www.geocities.com/sfneguy for info. about SFNE!!!

At CP, we were trained to allow people to cross through the train during weather related downtime, but during any mechanical downtime, guests had to go back down through the turnstiles. Some parks seem to like to build stations with "chicken shoots" so that people who are scared don't have to cross over or fight back through the line. I guess that's probably a good thing. The thing I'd like to see implemented on more rides is a single rider line.

-Matt