State ends investigation of Top Thrill Dragster accident at Cedar Point

As a complete guess Brett, I would think it would have had a somewhat lengthy closure for re-inspection of all the flag plates, as well as track/brake repair. I'm guessing it would have reopened for Halloweekends, but that's solely based on the ride. The question about protecting the queue is a much bigger and realistic one, and easily could have kept the ride closed for all of last season.

I agree with that. I suppose a "just as bad" outcome would have been if the ride block stopped/e-stopped because the blocking system didn't show the train completing the course, maintenance comes and resets without realizing there had been track damage, and launched another train. That could have messed up an entire train and/or caused some injuries.

Per the report it's interesting to speculate about, given that for about two weeks the brake run/finish-line-area seemed to be a place of odd sounds/loose bolts, etc. that no one could find the source of, other than (perhaps at this point in the ride's life) simply chalking it up to..."well, it's Dragster".

Something was up with this area of the ride from at least August 2nd (the "ticking noise"). And then after the incident:

Multiple fixed brake fin bolts and brake-frame bolts were loose on both sides of the track. Documentation of these observations can be found in the photographs in ATTACHMENT 3

(Page 6)

I am not sure that the ride is closed down in some effort to preserve evidence. As someone noted, there is a 600 page state report that is very thorough and appears to cover pretty much everything in terms of the ride (with pictures). Not sure what more you will get from looking at the ride further.

Also not sure the park will contest liability in any suit filed by the injured guest. Nothing at all indicates that the guest did anything wrong. Didn't hop a fence. Wasn't standing in a restricted area. Was doing what she should have been doing. But just totally in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the injury resulted from a problem with a ride in the park's control (wasn't some type of act of god situation).

Had the park been found to have violated Ohio law, the injured guest would have a claim of negligence per se. That wouldn't be the case here though because of the state's report. But again I wouldn't expect the park to contest liability. Will just be the amount of damages. And don't expect that to go to trial. Settle out of court.

To re-open the ride, Cedar Point would need to address the problem. If they fix the problem, are they at risk for the injured guest arguing had such a fix been put in place the incident wouldn't have happened. There are limits on the ability to introduce that evidence (want to encourage parties to make fixes when they can). But it can cause complications when the option of not re-opening the ride is on the table.

The timed announcement of the season-long closure to coincide with the State's findings is sufficient evidence to convince me they have a long-term communication plan worked out for the removal of this ride. The first shoe drops now, and the second will drop after the end of the 2022 season before they announce 2023 capital. They've been running this same kind of "high profile removal" playbook for years.

Just out of curiosity, were there any changes to Kingda Ka? I would think if there was significant enough concern to warrant removal to TTD, we'd also see Kingda Ka shut down, as they are virtually identical rides other than a small difference in height and an extra hill. I would think any design concern would be the same for both coasters. Was it even shutdown as a precaution following the TTD accident?

BrettV said:

Given the enormous undertaking of bringing the ride down, should the park opt to not reopen the ride, it could very well continue to stand for several years.

Perhaps they could put some kind of shroud over it?

If the ride doesn't re-open and does get removed eventually, I'm not even sure this incident will be the sole reason. This is probably more like a straw that broke the camels back. (Granted, this was a massive straw.)

Big complicated machines break all the time. Look at the Boeing 737 that killed a woman a few years ago when an engine failed catastrophically and threw a fan blade into her head in the cabin. Very similar to the TTD incident. It was tragic, but 737s continue to fly using those same model engines.

So if the park does make the decision to remove the ride, I'm guessing it's more of a big picture type of "It's just not worth it any more" situation.

That being said, I can't imagine it would be that hard to modify the trains or even build better ones that can operate safely on the existing ride. But again, it's probably just not worth it.

Walt S said:

Just out of curiosity, were there any changes to Kingda Ka? I would think if there was significant enough concern to warrant removal to TTD, we'd also see Kingda Ka shut down, as they are virtually identical rides other than a small difference in height and an extra hill. I would think any design concern would be the same for both coasters. Was it even shutdown as a precaution following the TTD accident?

As far as I know, Kingda Ka and Xcelerator didn't even close that afternoon or the next day.

Do we know if Kingda Ka or Xcelerator use the same design for determining the trains' locations? It's possible that the plates are different, attached differently, etc.

From my observations of Xcelerator of late, it's rare to see both trains on the track, and even the times that they were using both, they didn't dispatch until the other train was behind the one ready to launch. I would say that the control system for it was rather rudimentary compared to the larger versions of the ride.

Son of Beast's ultimate demise started with a basic statement that it would remain closed for the rest of the 2009 season following an incident. Just saying.

If dragster were to be converted to lsm, would the launch track be long enough, and could they gain enough space if they launch out of the station?

I highly doubt that Dragster could be refitted Red Force launches 0 to 100kph in 2 seconds, and 5 seconds to reach 180 kph. Dragster, on the other hand, takes 4 seconds to reach ~190 kph.

TheMillenniumRider said:

When you build one of a kind, or prototype rides it is impossible to account for every single failure that could occur.

Very true. It is very difficult to anticipate every kind of failure that can occur. It is certainly possible that they didn't properly account for the failure mode of that plate. I want to add, there are just too many examples of the cable failing on an Intamin ride in a manor that is safe for the riders for it to simply be something that is "overlooked."

The only thing that make's me think this isn't the end for Dragster is the fact Xcelerator is still around and operating, even after it's pretty serious accident that even had video.

It wouldn't surprise me if they ultimately decide to remove it. However I could also see them taking a season to either build some walls around the queue or completely re-configure the queue and entrance so it is further away from the high speed areas of the ride.

0g, it's not as though they didn't try. That's why there are three ropes on the launch sled. Notice that if you are in the front seat, you can't see the ropes? The reason is that the haul ropes run in enclosed channels on either side of the sled track, outboard of the exposed part of the sled. Herr Spieldeiner went to a lot of effort to protect the riders from the obvious hazard of a broken or damaged haul rope. The return rope is under far less strain, and trails behind the train, so again should be less of a hazard to the riders.

Should.

The thing shouldn't be able to stop on the top of the tower, either.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Fair enough. Somehow I had thought the cables were more or less exposed. The haul rope, being in enclosed channels, is much better than what I had been thinking when I made my above post. I stand corrected for my comment in regards to anticipating cable failures in their rocket coasters.

If I didn't know it was the Register I would swear it was a middle school newspaper

https://sanduskyregister.com/news/371893/dragster-needs-repairs/

I'm sure the Register will be quoting you on that soon.

Next week's article:

SANDUSKY - The mystery surrounding the Top Thrill Dragster's future at Cedar Point remains unsolved.

"Sucks", one user wrote.

"Was the mechanic black?", another questioned.

Another user mentioned something about the ride's future being on some sort of spectrum.

Tony Clark, the park's spokesman, was unavailable for comment.

The newspaper has sued the park for information, but not with a lawyer.