Carowinds fined $42,000 for six OSHA violations after worker accident

It involved a Windseeker, I'm not surprised.

These things really are inferior to the starflyers in every possible sense... they should all be replaced w/ the 400' models like in Orlando. The first time I rode one of these the seat in front of me swung back hard and bruised my knee.

I wouldn't think that was possible, that they only swing side to side on the Windseeker models, having ridden a few.

While I much prefer the Starflyer experience, they seem to have roughly half the capacity. I also know plenty of people who absolutely refuse to ride that high with chains as supports, so I get the appeal of WS vs SF. Personally, that's why I like the SF models, the chains, and the range of motion they allow are much more thrilling.

I'm not one prone to fear of heights, especially on any ride, but Starflyers do give me an unsettled feeling. It's irrational since I know the possibility of something going wrong is so slim. I've flown Skycoasters dozens of times and never been even a little bothered.

I’ve never been on a Starflyer, but Windseekers are my favorite rides that aren’t coasters. I wish there were more details about the accident in the article because this stuff is super interesting to me.

Tommytheduck said:

I wouldn't think that was possible, that they only swing side to side on the Windseeker models, having ridden a few.

It's not possible *now*, but when they first opened, they used to move forward and backward quite a bit as well. They added dampers between each of the arms sometime thereafter to minimize that range of movement.