SOB Accident at Kings Island

SOB is "not so bad". In fact I think it's a great ride and it is my #1 wood coaster. As far as Cedar Fair goes, they already own a POS called Mean Streak. And, yes, I still ride that also. An accident could happen on ANY coaster. BTW, I hope everyone is ok! Save the "tear it down" comments as they are tired subject matter. I've had far, far worse rides on other woodies!

Thankx! Appreciate it!

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060709/NEWS01/399990108

I just heard on ONN which is the Ohio News Network while flipping through channels. It doesnt surprise me, but it does seem that the circuit of the ride was not to blame but breaks. Ahh cedar Fair and breaks lately.

They had live audio from this Carole Kaiser, but she mantioned how good the ride has run. Nothing really on injuries. They said minor chest and head injuries. Seems a bit wierd with chest unless they were thrown into the lap bar, which in fact is lower. Seems that this ride is getting more and more trouble with age, and it isnt even that old. Im with others when i say knock it down. Maybe Cedar Fair will build another wooden coaster....haha

A broken chest bone and blood from mouths? This is really serious

Power outage at other nearby rides...is there some sort of a trim brake right before the loop? If that is the case, and the power goes out, wouldn't the brakes automatically go on? That would cause a huge jolt if the train were to just plow through the brake like that...

I believe the block brake is right before the drop to the loop. As for power outage/braking issue, I don't really know how that stuff is designed. *** Edited 7/10/2006 2:11:39 AM UTC by Marky Mark***

My bad i didnt hear anything about the block break, but its before the loop and then finishes the rest of the course which is brutal enough. So i guess it could be bad, also Dante i heard nothing of blood from the mouth. I can see lower areas of the body being affected and then the bloody from stomaches and other internal organs being damaged. Sorry so little informed.

So thats what happened?... it jolted on or near the block slammng people into their restraints?

I can see that hurting people, but if thats the case, I don't ever remember the ride going that fast at that point of the circut.

Of course, I won't even ride SOB anymore. *** Edited 7/10/2006 2:24:45 AM UTC by john peck***

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MagnunBarrel said:
My bad i didnt hear anything about the block break, but its before the loop and then finishes the rest of the course which is brutal enough. So i guess it could be bad, also Dante i heard nothing of blood from the mouth. I can see lower areas of the body being affected and then the bloody from stomaches and other internal organs being damaged. Sorry so little informed.

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I guess you missed this article. Here it is again

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060709/NEWS01/399990108

If the block closed wouldn't that cause a manual reset condition? In which case the op's should have gone to check on the passengers no?

The others rides were not a power failure, they were closed and guests moved out of the way of the emergency crews coming into the area, Delirium is right by the entrance to Action Zone.

And if the block had closed, it would have stopped on the block. This sounds like a major problem in the trains, probably a wheel/axle break.

*** Edited 7/10/2006 2:30:03 AM UTC by pkidelirium***

it happened at about 60mph just before or in the loop.

My guess, Track dislodged and its just my opinion but its happened before in the loop.

The train made it back to the station tho so it much have been a jolt type thing if people were slammed forward enough to put bruises on their chest.

So if the track dislodged, then how would the train have been able to continue on? What kind of "dislodging" would we be talking about? And again, how would the train be able to make it all the way back into the station with a broken wheel?

Centrifical force

It could have been something from a previous train that fell on the track or something, I don't know for certain but it hit something or ran over something that jolted the riders forward but the train made it to the end.

Chuck, who says its all speculation as of now but from the description of the one rider it seems like track problems. If it was a wheel it probably wouldn't have made the rest of the course and would have bashed the riders around more from shuffle.

drudgereport.com has two links regarding the accident....

http://www.drudgereport.com/

sigh. Too many accidents so far this year.

"Centrifical" is not a word. You mean "centrifugal" if you mean forces pushing you away from a central axis, or "centripetal" if you mean forces pulling toward the center of rotation.

I was wondering (as I just posted in the news section), what the chance was that the train may have hit some sort of animal. Granted, I know it's probably more likely from a piece of track, broken wheel, or foreign object from the previous train, but I have often wondered what would happen if the Beast would hit a deer.

I know it sounds somewhat silly, but both Papa and son run through (or near) the wilderness.

This has been a tough year for amusement parks, not good for all the naysaysers out there. I am most concerned about a recovery for all involved and I'll be interested to see what happens on this. It is ironic that I was just talking about PKI with a coworker the other day. She loves the park but said SOB shakes her so bad she can only do it once per day. I didn't even realize she liked rollercoasters, but judging from others she does like, she isn't one to complain that something is "rough". That being said, I don't think Mean Streak is a POS, I rather liked it. I haven't ridden SOB, the only time I went to King's Island was its opening year and it was closed (or hadn't opened yet).

*** Edited 7/10/2006 4:00:16 AM UTC by Willh51***

I have just returned from the park. I don't know about your power outage theory, but I was on Delirium around the same time as the SOB incident, and first I noticed that Delirium didn't home right, and they kept jogging it about 5' each move towards center home. Then they announced Delirium was going down. Then the crew did not open the Delirium exit gate at first, and the next thing I know we are being herded towards Oktoberfest...

Not much more to add except I saw the parade of emergency vehicles from atop Eiffell Tower, and when Action Zone reopened they had one train on the lift and one in the station. I saw at least 4 different news trucks on my way out of the parking lot after park close.

I wonder what time SOB opened, I know it didn't open with the park this morning, but then neither did Avatar, Avatar didn't open till about 1pm or so.