S&S Sky Swat at Thorpe Park - Major Breakdown

I was at the park yesterday and Slammer, Thorpe's new S&S Sky Swat was closed off for some reason mid-afternoon. I've had a look around several internet forums and it seems the ride stopped upside down.

Check this video:
http://members.aol.com/simps100/thorpe/slammer1.wmv

Apparently the Emergency Stop button was triggered when something fell from the ride (what it was is unknown; could have simply been a phone or some people say part of the ride itself). Anyway, the E-Stop button stopped the ride mid-cycle upside down.

I don't know how long the ride stayed like that, but it was at some point repositioned and lowered to the ground. No one was hurt, but all required first aid due to being stranded upside down for so long.

Has anyone seen any other incidents like this? Is the other S&S Sky Swat as unreliable as Slammer, which has been experiencing countless technical difficulties... and surely the E-Stop button should also be designed to reposition the ride?

Thorpe Park yesterday was a bit of a nightmare, but I'm glad I avoided this!

That looks painful.

I develop Superior Solitaire when not riding coasters.

^Especially with those S&S Restraints.

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode=thread&TopicID=41939

My TR from yesterday, where I do talk about this. Actually, the ride is great and the restraints are quite good.

However, I have to say that the ride is still a POS since apparently it takes something like 10-15 minutes to get it back upright, if what I saw yesterday was any indication. Thats not good!

You can only watch the video after 4 p.m. Eastern!

Ah another wonderful piece of S***&Stuff technology. Can't wait for Kennywood's new piece of overly expensive metal artwork!

--Brett, Resident Hater of all things S&S

they have had problems for a while now

Opened late, and was very tempremental. Thought they had it fixed when some new parts came in.

Rush the giant s&s swing has been more reliable. Opened before schedule and while has only been working one side, has been running fairly well.

Not sure that Thorpe would be very happy with the Swat though. Not good business for S&s, especially as i can see Alton buying a couple of flats in the near future- dont think they will buy from them now.

Brett, you obviously have never ridden Avalanche. I know it's not a flat ride but it does fall into the "all things S&S" category.

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey over pieces of the ground, silly monkeys give them thumbs they forge a blade and weapons by the pound to divide it, right in two - Tool

Two thoughts....

1. It's called an e stop for a reason "Emergency"! In an emergency the ride should come to a halt as soon as possible. Rides should not have the knowledge to assume a certain postions before they stop. If it is an emergency they should stop period. This is what it did. I see nothing wrong with the operation.

2. A lot of people think that the spin in air driven. It is not. It is electric motors. After an e stop the computers have to go through a sequence to come back up. I can see that taking 15 minutes to happen, that's very acceptable. After the e stop has been cleared the motors can be controlled to rotate the platform. Even at the speed of rotation you desire. You would not want this machine to have a rotation device that could be minipulated during an e stop.

It sucks that they were stuck, as it does on any ride, but I think the machine did exactly what it should. Stop immediately regardless of where it is in the cycle.