Girl loses feet on drop tower accident at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

This story just gave me chills when I read it. My 14 yr old nephew was just at the park last Saturday and rode this ride.

My heart goes out to the girl and her family, the other riders on that ride, and anyone around the ride that witnessed this accident. That's not something they'll not soon forget. As tragic as it was for this one girl, it's amazing that no one else was injured. It certainly could have been much worse.

Bakeman

What NascarLvr was referring to was my original post asking about PowerTower.

I gotcha, sorry. I thought he was referring to PT's design and not the ride in question. My mistake.

CNN reports that she is undergoing surgery right now. The feet were saved so there is a chance they could be reattched. The recovery is going to be slow and brutal but let's hope this young lady has a chance to get back to some normalcy.

God bless this poor girl and her family. Let's all pray for a miracle.

lol dude that's f--king crazy

Well, with the magnetic brakes permanently on, it causes more stress on the cables to pull the car thru that section of track. One the "claw" and car are free of this area they move a lot quicker. I'm guessing the stress at this point broke the cable and the car instantly stoped in the brakes, or fell a short bit, the cable being lighter, not affected by the brakes, and having broke was able to accelerate at a quicker rate and finding its way into the passenger area.

IIRC, Hellevator (this ride) was the original 2nd-gen drop ride. It seems that all of the Intamin 2nd-gen and 3rd-gen drop rides are closed pending the investigation, and subsequent inspections on the similar rides elsewhere.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070622/ap_on_re_us/amusement_park_accident_3;_ylt=Aima.enD_.FKxBWkmBp_EV5kM3wV

^Strikes me as odd in that Acro @ SFoG is NOT mentioned. Different lift mechanism perhaps?

Ok, so the ride has been removed from the park's website,does this mean they are removing the ride altogether?

A further update from CNN indicates Six Flags AND Cedar Fair have closed their Intamin Drop towers pending further information and inspections.

[i}Another park operator, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., closed drop rides at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; Canada's Wonderland in Toronto, Ontario; Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia.; Carowinds, in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Great America in Santa Clara, California, the AP reported.

"We're going to keep these things down until we're certain it's safe," Cedar Fair spokesman Craig Ross told the AP. "We'll wait and see."

I don't think the Drop Zones at KI or KD are the same model/version as the one that was involved in the accident at SFK. Both of those have the cables overhead attached to the catch car. The seat ring does not have any cable attachments on it at all. The cables are wound up on drums at the top of the tower when lifting the seat ring. There is no cable below the riders

Don't the older Intamin drop towers have separate seating sections whose seats are in a straight line? Each section is 4 or 6 seats across? I'm wondering if the cable is on a loop on those models and the car attaches to the cable and lifted up. I could see how the cable could catch on the lower portion of a persons body if it snapped since the cable is above and below the riders. Don't you sit closer to the tower on those models as well? The seats on the KI and KD versions are 10-15 feet from the tower itself.

I don't know about the Intamin drops at CanWon or CW.

"Could this possibly happen on the 3rd Generation Intamin Freefalls? I always wondered why the seats were moved out so far from the actual tower, maybe this was a safety precaution?"

I think the seats are so far away from the tower in order to seat more people... the ring of seats could not be as large if the seats were next to the tower. If that makes any sense..

Yes, they are different rides, but similar enough to make the parks concerned, apparently.

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DantheCoasterman said:
I found out that this had happened from a phone call from my dad while at Cedar Point. He called my cell just before we loaded onto Power Tower! Freaky....... [\quote]

Ironically, I was at Cedar Point on the 21st too, and decided against a second ride on Power Tower after getting a call about this accident. Freaky stuff.

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First off I just want to say my heart goes out to all those effected by this tragic accident and I hope that the littl girl will recover from her injuries enough to at least be able to walk again.

As far as the accident itself goes all i have to say is it figures that it was at a Six Flags park. No offence to anyone but they have a track record for major accidents. I use to ride Giant Drop at SFGA all the time but its been just over 3 years since I have set foot into any amusement park so I may be a little of in my thinking. But here is my theory: It pretty clear that a cable snapped but if the ride was mor than half way up and depending on where the break occured either above, below, or behind the car it is very possible that the loose lower portion of the cable would have freefallen to the ground.

What I wondering is going by the witness statements other people were hit by the cable.. So are there others in the hospital?? Were they severely injured?? I mean a cable that size even hitting someone would be like a huge whip especially if it snapped under pressure. any ideas??

What an inane comment. If Six Flags parks have more of a "track record for major accidents" (which I don't think they do), then it's probably because they have more parks in the country than any other chain, not because they're any less safe than any other chain.

-Nate
*** This post was edited by coasterdude318 6/22/2007 4:11:58 PM ***

God, I cannot believe what I just read. This is a terrible thing to happen to a person on ride, but in hindsight, thank god the cable came down in such a way that it didn't wrap around her neck and decapitate her. I hope Louisville's Medical Center IS as good as everyone says it is, and hopefully they can successfully reattach this poor girls feet.

On a side note, I really don't believe that Intamin is to blame for this freak occurrence. It is well known that there have been many maintenance cutbacks this year at a many a theme park, so I do believe there MIGHT have been a way to prevent this. Ultimately though, we have to remember that these huge machines undergo a lot of tension through time. The laws of physics state that anything that undergoes so much tension through long enough periods of time can wear down, no matter how strong or well built it is. The parts that come with these rides were not manufactured by Intamin, but another company. I still feel safe riding any ride that's not operated my a traveling circus. However, I believe it to be more than one specific thing, to blame.

I really hope that this will make every theme park in the world look at their yearly maintenance budget, and make those executives say to themselves, "Maybe we need to a loss on net profits to make sure this horrific instance never happens again". Cause as we know, any ride at any time can malfunction or break down, roller coasters included. Every single measure should be covered in order to prevent those freak occurrences.

In the end, everyone should still remember that theme park rides are one of the safest forms of entertainment in the world, as statistics have shown that more people have been injured by folding lawn chairs than rides itself.

Nevertheless, my thoughts go out to this little girl, and I wish the best for her safe and successful recovery.

There is so much inaccuracy and misinformation surrounding this accident and the general operation of this ride, both from the major news sources and posted above me here. If you don't know the facts, you should probably not post. At least qualify stuff with "I think..." or "I'm guessing that..." This was a terrible and gruesome accident. Making stuff up just makes the situation worse.

Yeah, I'll admit, usually I'm a jerk, but libeling SF is just wrong!! And besides, isn't Disney's track record even worse?? Especially over the past 3 years or so, and Disney definitely cares about its guests a lot...I mean, find me day-old gum pressed on a railing in a ride queue there!!

^^I was thinking the same thing....fortunately for this girl that wasn't the case & I sincerely hope for the best for her recovery.

Now KD's & KI's DZ may have a different seating configuration but the lifting system is essentially the same with the cable located above the ride vehicle so if it could snap & cause such a horrific injury on the 2nd gen model then the same thing could potentially happen on the 3rd gens as well.

One thing's for certain & that is the fact that in light of this accident I don't know if I'll ever get back on one of these rides again,lord knows that after the accident in Japan last month I'm not willing to ride KD's shockwave in the future no matter how good the maintenance.

SLVFever made a good point about how the magnetic brakes causing resistence on the ascent could weaken the cable by stretching it.Think about it:,the ride has to go through these cycles every three to five minutes over the course of just one day's operation.In time that adds up to a lot of stress being put on those cables.