Seven people hurt in drop tower accident at New York State Fair

"....is similar to Disney's Tower of Terror."

Um, ok. I guess it is as similar as climbing into a tree and jumping out of it. The fact that they both go up and down is about where the similarities end.

I hope the victims recover quickly.

Who makes this ride? The fact that two cables can break at the same time and cause an accident implies a seriously screwed up design flaw.

I have been on this ride before.

If I remember correctly there are four cables, one on each side.

I it's really weird that I live 15 minutes away from an accident like this.

Once again, terrible journalism. According to the video report, they said a boy died on the Drop Zone ride in 1999 after slipping out of his harness. I'm sure this ride wasn't even conceived in 1999.

They are of course referring to the Drop Zone at PGA made by Intamin, not this Fabbri Mega Drop. Ironically though according to the spec sheet, the magnetic brakes are made by Intamin.
*** This post was edited by Intamin Fan 8/25/2006 10:28:01 AM ***

This isn't a Fabbri Mega Drop. It looks to me like an SBF Drop Zone. I rode one similar to this and the ride carriage is pulled up and down by the cable only, there are no magnetic brakes on it. It operates more like a big frog hopper not like an Intamin Free Fall. It is primarily a children's ride, but adults are usually allowed to ride as well.

They have this same model ride at the michigan state fair right now. I dont know how true it is, but the local news says that there are only three of these rides in the united states.

Jeffrey, I didn't see any ride on the SBF/Visa site called "Drop Zone." The tower and carriage they show doesn't match the one in the video either. But, Fabbri clearly has a four-sided tower ride called Drop Zone (which is the Megadrop) on their webpage. But, if you didn't see magnetic brakes, than obviously it's not it. All the Italian companies confuse me as they all make rip-offs of Zamperla (irony), Huss and other companies rides.

If you watch the video, you can clearly see that there are no fins for magnetic brakes on this ride. I rode the Fabbri model at IAAPA a few years ago (OK, so it was 2000), and I thought it was about as fool-proof as the Intamin towers. This ride was clearly not one of those.

Well, even though it's not on their website, SBF/Visa it is according to the Flat Joint website. They have it listed under Drop Zone and the picture looks like it's from a trade show. Like I said before, the whole Italian flat ride thing is very confusing. I don't think the word "copyright" or "trademark" is in their dictionary. Go to any of the Italian sites (besides Zamperla) and you'll see dozens of copies of rides you already know from other manufacturers. Sometimes, they are called the same exact thing too like the Huss Swingout is called "Apollo 2000" by Technical Park. That's exactly what it's called at Dorney Park! No wonder that report was confused about the Intamin accident.

The tower is an SBF/Visa ride. An SBF Rides emblem is located on the car. It's listed on their site under Family Rides - Other Family Rides, in 14 meter, 17 meter, and 25 meter variants. Having ridden Strates' Drop Zone tower in 2004 and 2005, it appears to be the 14 meter model.

Strates Does not own the ride- its booked in by S&T Magic of Florida, they travel with Strates Shows 75% of there season