S:UF Mishap - 6/9/04. 2nd train looses a piece!

Well I guess all 3 S:UF's will have to be closed temporarily while an investigation is conducted to determine just how the wheel fell off in the first place.

It's simply not worth risking the safety of the general public until the cause can be identified & fixed so as to prevent it from happening in the future....good thing it was a test run & nobody was on that train at the time.

I'm enormously doubtful it's a wheel that came off the train -- particularly if they continued to use the train throughout the day.

People leave tools where they're not supposed to all the time. It happens. Be thankful that nobody was hit by it when it fell.

Nope, Lord Gonchar, I certainly don't mind. Anything is good if it will help us figure out when it could have been. It is alot easier replaying the full quality video in DV-AVI format, The video is much clearer. I wish i could provide that clip, But it would be pretty big in size.

At first i did think it was a tool, But i definatly think it would fall out in the first few seconds of the ride. Probably just as the train would change angles going into the lift. If it was a tool though, Somebody needs to get fire for being so careless to leave it in the train.

Another thing, When the ride ops announced that they will be adding another train, They sounded very optomistic that it will start giving rides. Everybody in the crowed cheered.

One more thing, Quite alot of people did leave who saw what happened. Most people weren't paying attention and didn't really know what happened.

I would have left the line myself. :)

I've gotta agree with Chernabog on this one. I
find it hard to believe that it was a wheel that came off, ESPECIALLY since they let the train continue operating. In MY opinion (and mine only) it does favor one of those "big ole adjustable wrenches" that weigh a ton. Is it possible that one of the maintenance guys had left it hanging on something the protruded from the train such as a long bolt or something? The only way it could have slipped off would have been whenever the train rolled onto it's side. The pretzel loop has no sideways motion so it could have just rotated around whatever it was hanging on. Just a though that popped into my head.

~editted for spelling... :)

*** Edited 6/11/2004 4:48:04 PM UTC by Rampage***

They let the train run 2 more runs, All the engineers were inside the storage building and probably didn't see the piece fall off. They looked at the train after the 3rd test run, Then jogged the train and transfered it back.

Yeah, if it were a wheel, I doubt the train would continue to peacefully run... I think it would have made some very unusual noises, and I doubt they would have dispatched it again, with a wheel assembly hanging down.

Did the park even know that something fell off the train?

You know, I've heard the same noise when people sneak cameras onto rides and then drop them. Too bad the parks can't fire those morons for being so careless as to take those on the trains.

In all seriousness, it could have been a lot of different things, but it was NOT a wheel or anything that was instrumental to the train. There is no way that a ride could've finished the course and gone around twice more without a wheel. I would tend to throw my two cents into the tool theory.

All I know, is whatever flew off appeared rather sizable in the video.

If it was carelessness and a tool was forgotten, they're lucky it flew off where it did.

*** Edited 6/11/2004 5:35:04 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

Well, It was not a wheel. I reviewed the video's of the train running the course the 2 other times, It looks as if all the wheels are there. We have to remember there are Flyer trains and they are alot more complex then regular B&M trains with alot more moving parts. It could have been just about anything, From the wheel assembly to something in the hoisting mechanism near the seats. All i know is that the train was getting ready to operate or else they would have waited till the park closed to test the train.

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Raven-Phile said:
But guys - B&M's don't have problems. They are perfect. :rolleyes:

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Well c'mon Josh, you *know* that this isnt a B&M problem. It can *ONLY* be a result of that shoddy SF upkeep ;)

lata, jeremy (tounge firmly in cheek)

Looking at the size of that, It seems larger than a tool. Compare it to the size of the train, it looks rather large. I too would be with the blonde guy. Whoa, I am outta here!

Pieces flying off doesn't always mean shutting the ride down. I've been in line for X-Flight (two years ago) when something very distinctly flew off the train (looked much like a wheel, especially where it came off) on the flip after the vertical loop. Piece flew, coaster went bang, people said what was that and continued to ride! Needless to say, that was one of the few times I experienced the "roughness" that everyone insists makes Vekoma flyers the next incarnation of the devil, but hey, coasters got lots of wheels, as long as no one's lying on the track unconcious, keep on truckin'!

If obviously wasn't any big deal or something critical to the ride or they wouldn't have started running the thing the same day.

And might I also add that it obviously wasn't a camera from a passenger because there were no passengers on the train.

Impulsive: last year a piece went flying off of one of Batwing's trains(the zero car cover) & it hit someone on the train in the process.

The park shut the ride down for a couple of weeks as a result of that little mishap.

I realize that it wasn't a camera, only stating the fact that I have heard the exact same noise from people who brought a camera on a ride and dropped it during the ride. People who bring their cameras on the park's rides, deliberately breaking the rules can be just as dangerous as whatever it was that fell off the train.

Thank god no one was hurt! I doubt it was a wheel. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing if it was a wheel, there would have been some major problems with the train eventually. And if it were any kind of part from the train, something would have evenutally happened too.

My best guess is a tool left somewhere on the ride or structure by a mechanic.

I'm starting to think this all has to do with the famous "Superman Curse". The 2 actors who played the roll on tv and movies both had pretty nasty luck (Suicide and being paralyzed). Both coasters responsible for a death and a serious injury, not to mention the current seatbelt/restraint crap .... Superman. Coincidence? Someone call the ghostbusters. *** Edited 6/13/2004 3:39:46 AM UTC by Coaster Junkie***

Sorry to bring this back up, but...

The sound is very metal-on-metal. And the wheels of the train are wrapped with rubber, so unless it hit it parallel to the support, it couldn't make that noise.