SOB Accident at Kings Island
These "terrain" and "wilderness" coasters could occasionally run into something in the wilderness actually sharing the same terrain with the coasters.
Does anyone know of that ever happening???
This has been a "rough patch" of coaster-accident-related news, hasn't it? And we're not even half-way through the summer at this point.
Jeff said:
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.
Centripetal force is the force pushing you toward the center of something rotating. Centrifugal force is a perceived force and does not actually exist.
Michael Darling said:
Centrifugal force is a perceived force and does not actually exist.
Well, that is somewhat true. Centrifual force is simply the feeling given to an object based on its apparent inertia. While it is not a "force," it still exists. It's just what we feel (such as on a Gravitron or Roundup) as the inertia of our spinning body wanting to keep moving outward.
Sorry to nitpick, but I am studying physics :)
Hope everyone on SOB makes it through all this. Its sad to hear about accidents, especially on a coaster that doesnt need any more negative attention.
Barry Williams said:
SVLFever brings up a point that I have thought about for years as regards PKI and The Beast, in particular. I have often thought that one of the stranger occurrences that could ever happen would be for a coaster to hit an animal on the track.These "terrain" and "wilderness" coasters could occasionally run into something in the wilderness actually sharing the same terrain with the coasters.
Does anyone know of that ever happening???
The closest thing that comes to mind like that would be the Fabio incident a few years back with a bird.
The weird thing with this is either animal on the tracks or track dislodge, or break issues..generally the train would most likely valley an not finish the course.
If a coaster hit something big like a deer, I don't think it would slow it down too much anyway... I'm sure it would damage the front car though!
I think a deer, or any animal, would feel the vibrations and move out pretty quickly.
As for SOB, what a horrible incident. Blood from mouths and a broken chest bone! ugggg!
That ride is a nightmare. It's a fight to hold together on it. Maybe I just had the worst rides. The only thing good was the lift and loop (for me anyway).
I hope something will be done about this giant wood thing. And I hope those folks recover quickly!
Son of Beast has pretty much made PKI a laughingstock, at least to the people I talk to. I've ridden it probably a dozen times, never had a ride that wasn't painful. The first drop has so much wood - just screams "ego" (was it really necessary to have that huge sweeping curve at the top?). The loop is a gimmick - the fact that no one else has attempted it in six years proves it. The ride's layout is boring and the trains are like torture chairs from the Spanish Inquisition. The lift hill is ridiculously loud. The ride has been a walk-on nearly every time I've ridden it, even once when Adventure Express had a 10-minute wait.
TAER. IT. DOWN.
20-year-old Troy O'Dell saw people bleeding from their mouths. He saw people hunched over in pain. Others, he said, showed signs that they were having trouble breathing.
And this is a new thing? I had trouble breathing and was hunched over in pain the last time I rode SOB.
The girls said they saw some people in neck braces and some on stretchers. They were frantic about their friends and thankful they hadn't been farther up in line.
Does this mean they are going to build a nurse's station at the exit ramp like they should have years ago? ;)
They said a park worker told them the metal loop had become slightly dislodged from the wooden part of the track. Officials could not confirm that.
Slightly???? I never planned on riding SOB ever again just because of it's sadistic roughness but this kind of surprises me. I am not surprised that so many people left the park after the accident.
I am happy to hear that there were no serious injuries, minus the girl with the broken chest bone. I am curious to see what happens in the long run as well.
I don't know too many enthusiasts who like SOB, let alone ever ride it again. Granted, it has it's fans which is fine. What really gets me is why it's a favorite among the general public, even with the locals with season passes who frequent PKI all the time. Do they ENJOY having the crap beat out of them? Is it the "novelty" thing like the loop that keeps them coming back? I wouldn't ride that thing again even if it was walk-on.
I say the Cedar Fair and Paramount peeps have a nice bonfire at the end of the season. ;) I would be right there with the smores!
-Tina
*** Edited 7/10/2006 1:00:26 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***
I am happy to hear that there were no serious injuries, minus the girl with the broken chest bone.
Anyway, I hate to hear this. Personally, I like Son of Beast.
The queues were positively STACKED with people, clamoring to get aboard. . .
I remember my first ride on it and what I have over the years called "the shimmy" that it has. I came off of it and remember scratching my head and thinking, "Gee, I don't think the trains fit the track."
That was only the FIRST of many thoughts I had about it as I always tried to approach a new day at the park with new, better thoughts about how THIS TIME it was going to be better.
Alas, it never was. . .despite all the attempts that PKI Management put into it and the "spin" that Jeff (of PKI) gave it that it was a "whole new ride". . .it was a scrapper from the get-go.
It will be interesting to see what its future is now.
Do you think it will ever be open again???
I personally like the ride. It really doesn't matter how rough the ride is, all that matters is that you are able to ride in the first place, something to be thankful for.
X, also known as the death of Arrow Dynamics.
Intamin AG, slightly ahead of our modernized times.
On PKI's defense, are they really going to take one of their crowning achievments in the park's history and say, "Hey, don't bother riding SOB it sucks and will most likely injure you!". No, there going to promote to heck out of it. They're going to say it's a guest favorite whether it is, or not. Even if people refuse to ride it, they'll still come to see it, and see others ride it, (sort of like when Dragster came out).
Don't even get me started on the Wesson Oil thing.
She is TOTALLY ADDICTED to that stuff. . .
Now if I can just get CINDY AND BOBBY straightened out, no small task that. . .
Meanwhile, Cedar Point Junkie 2007, while it is true that SOB has been "operating" for some years now, isn't this a good time for PKI/CP to sit back and take stock of what is actually "wrong" with the ride and try and fix it? It's either that or risk having a repeat of this awful accident that brings glaringly bad PR and press to the coaster riding world? Is the ride structurally unsound? Will it be able to operate for years to come, the way some other beloved woodies have for decades (The Beast maybe being the FIRST one to come to mind).
I think it DOES matter how safe the ride is, personally. . .
It it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Unfortunately, it appears to be broke.
Someone rides it.
And, I had such low expectations for the ride, I got off it thinking "you know, that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be."
Sort of the opposite of anticipointment. ;)
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