Six Flags America Two-Face The Flip Side?

What happened to this coaster? I only caught the end of the clip on the news this morning.

Apparently it got stuck on the lift, and a hydraulic line broke while the crew was attempting to bring the train down. 12 people said to be injured (all minor stuff, I think). I'm not expecting to see it back up this year.

^According to the news

^I saw an article about it on KIcentral's forums & just now posted the info on your site Coasterguts in the two face thread from earlier this year.

Looks like the ride is down for the count this season & I wouldn't be suprised if Shapiro & co. decide to just yank it from the park within the next season or two.

I just watched an AP News report, and they said that the ride got stuck for two-hours, and when it did get released it slammed into the station leaking hydraulic fluid on some patrons.

Does anyone remember the last time this got stuck for an overly-extended period of time (making CNN)? I believe it was the early part of summer 03'.

I'm starting to feel that this coaster cannot be trusted anymore, and it's time to put it out to pasture. I would hate to see it go seeing as it's one of my favorites, but it's starting to make me nervous about boarding, and that's saying something.

It would also take care of one of my biggest problems with the ride aesthetically--the fact that you can see everything in the boneyard from the lifts. I know you can see a lot from the brake-run of Wild One as well, but put up a higher fence, and there solves that problem.

^ Hydraulic fluid?

I don't think that America's maintenance budget really allows for them properly take care of their rides. If you look at the other installations like Face Off at Kings Island it doesn't have the problems that Two Face has. From my visits to SF America the maintenance staff always seems to be cutting corners, because of not having the budget to properly fix rides.

I waited in the station of Batwing for 45 minutes, and watched them fix a train the one day. Their version of fix a train was that they ended up roping off one row of the train from being used. I have seen them another time do something similar with SROS. Just seems to be the culture there, and it's something could end up getting people hurt.

I don't understand it either. They draw good crowds there. I don't know why they can't invest more money to maintain their rides better.

We were getting ready to board the ride and decided to go on Wild One first, thank God - otherwise we would have been stuck up there. It sure seemed like more than two hours because all day long we kept pointing up their exclaiming, 'wow, look, they're still stuck up there'. There was a whole paramedic staging area set up outside with bright lights when they got the riders off.

Meanwhile, we went back the next day and as we were sitting on the train getting ready to be dispatched for Superman, one of the workers holds up a nut that came off one of the seats and they made everyone get out of the train while the maintenance crew scrambled to find the location of the bolt missing it's nut, while another checked all the trains for similar missing bolts. That ride sure rattles a lot during the circuit - it's no wonder those nuts rattle loose - apparently it's a common occurence from what someone else on the line told us as everyone made their way out of the station.

Why hasn't ultra twister been reassembled at this park? It's been sitting there rotting for two years now. *** Edited 10/8/2007 5:21:50 AM UTC by Rye.D.Ziner***

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Coasterfantom2 said:
I don't think that America's maintenance budget really allows for them properly take care of their rides. If you look at the other installations like Face Off at Kings Island it doesn't have the problems that Two Face has. From my visits to SF America the maintenance staff always seems to be cutting corners, because of not having the budget to properly fix rides.

I waited in the station of Batwing for 45 minutes, and watched them fix a train the one day. Their version of fix a train was that they ended up roping off one row of the train from being used. I have seen them another time do something similar with SROS. Just seems to be the culture there, and it's something could end up getting people hurt.

I don't understand it either. They draw good crowds there. I don't know why they can't invest more money to maintain their rides better.

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It's not uncommon for a park to keep a train in operation if they are only having problems with one seat or one row of seats or one car. It's better to keep it operating and completely repair the problem after hours. This particular ride does seem to have more than it's share of problems. And, I was not aware that these particular shuttles used hydraulics. *** Edited 10/8/2007 5:58:44 AM UTC by RollerCoastin!!!!***

I'm not sure where hydraulic fluid would come from on an Invertigo, unless the station brake is hydraulic instead of pneumatic.

I just hope it wasnt' a very high pressure leak. My dad works on hydraulics for a living (seviceing utility trucks), and that stuff can be nasty!

That, annd the fact that a pinhole leak from normal operating pressures (typically about 3000-6000 psi, 21,000-42,000 kpa, or 205-415 bar, for our mertic friends), can easily punch a hole through your hand or slice your finger clean off.

If it was a return line, (only about 50-100 psi), it'd just be big mess.

^^I've seen a couple of pressure guages lining the station while waiting for the front row before so that's probably where the rupture occured.

By all accounts the train was said to have slipped down the lift while being lowered manually so it probably hit the station/brake area pretty hard...hard enoug hto cause damage & rupture the hydraulic line.

If you put any lrage amount of pressure on those fittings, they'd shear quite easily.

I decided not to post this as a new item because a train doesn't simply "slam" into the station the way the AP article described it. It was likely released and entered the station where the brakes were all closed.

I was watching the local news last night and found it interesting that the couple interviewed that were stuck on the coaster claimed that the medical team was efficient, but the Six Flags staff (and I'm paraphrasing here) were of no use whatsoever.

^^My thoughts exactly.

Jeff, there's a better article over at The Baltimore Examiner webpage that features the PR director telling what happened. Maybe that'll be a better article to feature?

Still, if they were able to release the train at full-speed from the top of lift one, and it was released into a station with brakes closed, that could have been very painful for some riders. Maybe "slamming into the station" isn't right, but "slamming into the brakes" is. *** Edited 10/8/2007 9:02:36 PM UTC by Intamin Fan***

Just saw a story on it on my local NBC station (WHDH-7, out of Boston), and they had a story on it. They had a lady saying how the hydraulic oil spayed all over the place. Sounds about right for broken hose or a busted fitting.

I was there and witnessed the train lowered back into the ststion. Some local news incorrectly reported that the ride was "restarted and suddenly sped up". What happened was as the train was being lowered, the train sped up slightly as the cable reel began to spin more freely. The train did come to a stop with a "thud" but it wasn't nearly as bad as the "crashing sound" some described. It appeared that the fluid didn't begin spraying until after the sudden stop.

I think Jeff nailed it on the head when he stated that it probably entered the station with the brakes closed.

^Yeah that is exactly what I was thinking when I heard the initial reports on the news sunday morning.

IIRC though the station itself doesn't have a brake does it? I know that there's a brake just before the entrance to the cobra roll though,but because the train is essentially attached to the chain in the station there doesn't appear to be any calipers there.