Banshee Stuck on Lift - Oh Noes!

Feels like the local media is beating up on KI with these non-stories lately.

http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/new-kings-island-banshee-coaste...uck/ngMNg/

If I posted every time a coaster was stopped on the lift with me on it, you'd think that no ride was ever capable of running.

I'm guessing the same news station employee that just happens to be in the park will probably report of "starving park guests" if the blue ice cream runs out...

In related news, the Dodgem ride was also temporarily non-operational, for unknown reasons. Sources say that guests departed the ride during this time, and then other guests occupied the ride vehicles. Within minutes it was operating again.

I got stuck getting off the couch this afternoon. Someone call the press!

They failed to mention the real news story here, that Kings Island was home to Son of Beast which operated sporadically from 2000 to 2009 after which it sat idle due to incidents resulting in injury and lawsuits.

I got stuck on a Train once, ahh Metra Train, everyone gets stuck once a week .. ha ha .. gets stuck!

The TONE of these articles is what gets me. There's no info on how long these people were stuck up there, and they just seem to mention the fire that wasn't a fire to create an "ominous" feeling about Kings Island. Just trying to bait people, it seems.

A few years ago I got stuck on the lift of Cheetah at Wild Adventures. Freaky thing was that I was the only person on the train. Kind of disappointed that they got it running again... would have loved to do a "walk down."

It seems the media enjoys making mountains out of mole holes.

Kennywood seems to always be under attack by local WPXI. Last year 3 or 4 times about Phantom Revenge's sensors and a few weeks ago it was about a stopped train on the Jack Rabbit.

Then today it was back to the Phantom! http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/riders-escorted-phantoms-reveng...ood/ngMyG/

"Park officials said one of the trains got a new pair of breaks"

Professional!

I just figured the train broke in two places.

jml142 said:

It seems the media enjoys making mountains out of mole holes.

Speaking of this, the news over in Louisville did nearly the same exact thing after Kentucky Kingdom reopened. All because of this video:

I get the concern, but when people exaggerate things they don't know about, it can damage reputations. As soon as this video hit YouTube, the media hounds were foaming at the mouth over it, just to get some views in.

What is the saying in the coaster world? ...If it doesn't bend, it will break? Something like that?

I remember hearing "If if doesn't shake, it will brake" a long time ago, referring to wooden coasters. I don't remember hearing anything about steel other than it needs to flex.

You can see TTD's entire tower sway back and forth when a train passes through.

But as the "not an expert" said in the video, "that just shouldn't be."

That structural engineer needs to stand under Mean Streak's high curve over the station and watch that thing move. Or what was it? Ride of Steel? If I recall correctly, it had a section (one of those pop up hills) that had some of the most violent swaying I've ever seen on a steel ride.

Jeez.

Well, Dragster and Ride of Steel were built by Intamin, so...

The guy that shot the video is right about one thing.

"I'm not an expert or anything..."

That doesn't look at all like it "shouldn't be." Especially compared to this (skip to the 0:50 mark):

I dislike how people always go back to the "if it don't sway it will break" quote. Materials have limitations and the excessive swaying can cause big issues.

Sure, it is OK for track and structure to move but to an extent. Fatigue limit factors when designing such structures must be taken into account (for example, most steel should be designed to 10 million "cycles" if I recall) where the ultimate limit of the material (failure) will no longer drop. Each back/forth movement of the support, track, whatever is considered a cycle.

If designs did not take this into account, the material weakens up until so many "X" cycles and now has reduced in strength. The same force it was able to take over and over again for years may no longer be in the elastic deformation region, causing the material to now hit the yield point in which the material is now compromised. In a nutshell, the fatigue limit (point in which material fails) caused by the swaying track/supports lowers as the material cycles back and forth. If not designed to take it properly, the track/supports can eventually fail.

Note, Intamin had to change the support structure for all the impulse coasters and even the top hat on Xcelerator... Yet it was "supposed" to sway as much as it did... Well, I think they learned that after so many cycles, the material was failing requiring weld repairs and later the addition of more support to prevent the great moment and torque loads on the track/structure that was able to move around so much.

Same thing IMO happened with the Kentucky Kingdom ride... I simply believe the designers did not expect the track to move as much as they did, requiring the addition of more bracing. While it may be OK for a year before the material weakens enough to actually fail, it could happen.

If I learned anything from my mechanical engineering degree and experience in the field... Engineers will always make mistakes. There will always be some unknowns that may need to be corrected in production, on-site or whatever. As long as it gets corrected I don't see any problem with repairs on new rides.

If I understand the concept correctly with the steel structure "swaying", it is basically a structural dampener to reduce vibrations and increase the life of the structure. If too rigid, this can also cause issues. Designers need that perfect compromise in both the amount of rigidity and flex in the structure. Not that easy! (I am not a structural engineer, so this is just my guess here).

Hope this helps clarify somewhat for those wondering!