Does anyone trust ride operators?

What's your comet to this?

Not those teenagers, theyalways seem to race each other when theyare checking restraints on sit down coasters and dont pay much attention, especailly when one is a boy, and the other is a girl, there not all like that,just the ones at shockwave at sfot.

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Titan Laps : 6

?!?!

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...A natural force simply known as, Millennium Force...

I hate the ones that don't speak english I hate that why cant they put someone who knows what "death on a roller coaster: means?

In a word, yes. They know what they're doing, and so does the computer that runs the ride. The best thing for safety is to be a safe rider. :)

Disaster Transport '97 Crew
Iron Dragon '98 Crew
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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/index.html

^^^^Good answer!!^^^^

I trust them with my life, or else I wouldn't ride coasters.

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Everybodys got something to hide except for me and my monkey!

Let's just pretend that we trust them.

I trust the computer more. That's the one you trust your life with when you ride one of these puppies. All they do is hit a button, from there, it's all computer or nothin'.

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

I think when you are waiting to board the train or the ops are checking the restraints, you can easily see which ops are competent and which are not.

When I see incompetent ones, then I become a little weary. That's when I make sure my own restraint is locked and the seatbelt is tight.

Well put KrystalKat!!! We all need to be responsible for ourselves. We live in such a computer controled world that it's pretty difficult for most ride operators to create a problem.

However, our life is in their hands when it comes to the "SkyFlyer" and "Skyscraper" type rides. And, I've met nothing but smart and well spoken people - even teenagers (yes, as a 36 year old I know there are very good one's out there) operating these rides.

Having worked Skycoasters (which I assume you are talking about) I can attest that it takes someone completely messing up on purpose to casue someone to get hurt. There are so many steps to hooking sokmeone up, plus there is a person called a site controller who must be at the ride at ALL times to supervise the operation. This is per Sky Fun 1 (the company that makes the ride) regulations. Also there is an age limit as to who can work it. You must be 16 to do flight suits, 18 to be a controller (the people who do all the hooking up), and 19 to be a site controller

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

I don't know what the statistics for ride operator inspired injuries are, but I'm sure they are minimal. All they do is start the ride and check lapbars. Pretty simple. And if someone doesn't check yours, check it yourself. Even if they do, it's a good idea. They don't pull on it nearly hard enough.

Now I've ridden on a Zipper that was operated by a drunk person once....I'm still here, but I wouldn't recommend getting on if you smell alcohol! :)

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Forget about it. It can't be THAT bad!

I trust them that they will keep the ride safe, but the only ones I really trust as being on my side and not on the park's side are the Viper SFGAm crew. They are great. They never staple, they allow re-rides, they get riders pumped up, and they dispatch quickly. All the other crews I have seen could probably care less about me, but I think they will keep the ride safe just so they don't lose their job.
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Bull rides:50
Batman rides:35

Hehehe... I sure hope the GP trusts us! In reality, the only thing we do is check that the computer is doing it's job (i.e. make sure the lap bars are locked). The ride ops that you SHOULD be afraid of are the idiots who are running kiddie rides and not paying attention.

I trust the older ones more then the younger ones why? its not that im sterotypeing them becuase they my age its just that i seen them make mistakes and its not safe to slack off on the jog and mess around. this past sunday i was getting into the sky ride at SFGAdv and the op who looked like he was 15 brought the car in it was rocking like crazy then when my freind was getting in the door slamed on her leg knocking her shoe off then when we where in the car another car hit us from behind not hard but hard to hurt ur back then we left and where rocking on the wire for 20secs of the ride. it wasent fun when ur over 90ft off the ground swaying on a wire!then going on rolling thunder one op was spinning the turnstile wich i dont know why maybe trying to make it seem like alot of peopel rode it? but instead of getting ready to check lap bars he was doing that. then in Huricane harbo 2 op if they are called that in HH where slacking off filling water bottels with water from the slides and wetting each other rather then telling peopel how to go down slides meanwhile this guy was pushing his littel brother down the slide the wrong way. im not saying all young operaters arent good at there jobs but there is some that arent.also at cedarpoint i notice a few times my lap bar/harnest was not check and that was on MF,cork screw,blue streak,and wild cat. but then other rides they did but then they would check half the train and not the rest i think it was a fact of lazines.oh yea but restasure i don and always do check myself. i even check the person next to me if they are my freind or family member. (really) *** This post was edited by MrMightyMouse on 6/21/2001. ***

I trust certain ones.

But, if you can't do a self-check, you probably shouldn't ride.

But, my first ride on X-Flight when I wasn't quite sure what went where, and my skycoaster ride, where I had no control at all over anything, yes, I trusted them.

I would never board a skycoaster being operated by carnies, I guarantee you.

Disneyland doesn't check at all. I noticed this at Grad Nite last week when on both Big Thunder Mtn. and Space Mountain. With Big Thunder they just walk right by and hold up the clear signal. Space Mtn you get in and they car moves forward (note the lapbars arent even locked at this point!) then you stop and the bars lock but they never come by to pull up, maybe its because of the interval having 11 trains on at one time?!?

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

Ok, before you insult any ride ops here ( AHEM! ME!!!!!!!!!)... As a ride op, I'm trained to check lapbars and dispatch a roller coaster. I'm trained to know standard procedure for different situations, etc. Like for instance... What would you do if a roller coaster just crested the lift hill and started it's journey, then a bolt of lightning hit really close to the ride, what would you do?

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Mindbender...Can you hear the Riddler chuckling?

*E-Stop!* Ride Ops do not necessarily have to pull up on lap bars to check if they're secure. For example, on Disaster Transport (CP), if the bar is down then it is locked, without question (hydraulic bars - they are always locked unless you release them once the computer locks them), so the ride op only has to see that the bars have been pulled down. So just because they do not tug on the bars it doesn't mean they aren't checking! Also, while there are standards for ride ops, and personally I always upheld them and made sure the rest of my crew did as well, though we all did with no reminding -- not all ride ops are as conscientious, just as not all riders are as safety conscious! :)

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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/index.html