Man falls from Scenic Skyride at Knoebels

This afternoon, a man fell from the new Scenic Skyride (a chairlift-type ride) at Knoebels Groves. Sources say the fall was of about 30 feet. EMTs arrived shortly after and the man was flown to nearby Geisinger Hospital for treatment. No word on his condition. WNEP News from Wilkes Barre was live at Knoebels for a report at 6:00. Buddy Knoebel (the owner of Knoebels) showed the reporter exactly how the safety bar works without trouble. More details to follow.

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If at first don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.

I wonder what he was doing on the ride to cause him to fall?

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The news also said he was at the park on a trip with the Selinsgrove Senior Center. I live just up the road from there, and I can tell you that the Senior Center is a home for the mentally handicapped. They also said he was riding alone, so that could be some serious liability issues for the Center if he was a "resident" there.

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If at first don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.

That would explain it a little better.

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Oh my god. After the Holiday World accidedent this is getting scary. They are two of my favorite parks. I hope he's all right. Do you have a link?

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-Sean Newman
*** This post was edited by SFgadvMAN 6/13/2003 6:43:58 PM ***

From the art on Knoebel's web site, it appears to be a normal ski lift. It doesn't take much to fall out of a chair lift if the safety bar is up... messing around, leaning forward while looking around, slouching, etc. On the other hand, shifting your weight to pull the safety bars down and up can be unbalancing as well. So there's several possiblities... I'd rather not promote any one of them until we know more.

I rode the Skyride on Satureday. It is much like the ones you would find at a ski resort, except this on also has foot rests, which if you are seated properly on the ride, will prevent the arm from being pulled up.

It sounds to me like this guy should not have been riding alone, and was screwing around on the ride.

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"If you make it too smooth, it'll be like sitting in your living room."
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Seems like this would be a news topic.

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This place would be be a nightmare for midgets.

Let's wait until we really know something...

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