teen dies at park 3 charged with manslaughter

A teen died when the bungee she was being strapped into was started too soon, one girl survived by holding on.

I have sent it to news also but this is just a blurb anyone have anymore info?

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=10595 *** Edited 8/11/2004 2:51:48 PM UTC by supermandl***

I guess this is why they dont have the bungees tight on these types of rides here in the US, at least from what I have seen, until everybody is strapped in and ready to go.

My prayers go to the family and the friends of the deceased. *** Edited 8/11/2004 2:55:25 PM UTC by beast7369***

That's a real tragedy. It's a shame there is some sort of backup safety system to prevent this needless type of accident occurring.

My thoughts and prayers for the family of the deceased.

Wow, that is like everyone's worst nightmare come true when you ride one of these things. I couldn't even imagine. Very, very, sad :(

What type of ride is this? Is it like a Skycoaster or totally different?

from the article it sounds like a ride they have at morey's piers made by funtime industries called slingshot. http://www.funtime.com.au/

This site has some thumbnails you can click on to get the big picture of what the Slingshot ride is.

http://www.ride-extravaganza.com/rides/bungee_rocket/

newer models seem not to have bungee cords... they seem to have changed them to a kind of spring.

I didn't post this as news because it was too vague about where it happened.

Goodness. What a tragic way to go.

You would think a ride like this would have a Dual Dispatch.

This happened on a German fair, not an amusement park. The small city is called Daun.
It appears that the attendants where fooling and flirting around with the girls. One attendant went to the operator console and started the ride before the girls were secured. Makes you swallow hard on your jokes about fairground workers and their "girlfriends".

As I understand, this ride used springs as well. Usually they should be "activated" when the passengers are secured. But this is a carny ride and time is money. Many people have noticed that some attendants are stretching the cords while people are loading. It increases hourly throughput.
It certainly doesn´t help that Sling Shots are often not owned by "real" showmen. These things are cheap to buy and you can make lots of cash on small city fairgrounds.

This continues the string of horrible events which happened on german fairs this year. A few weeks ago, three people were thrown from a "Miami"-style ride, when the attendant opened the restraints while the operator was about to re-start the ride.
A boy was thrown out of a Huss Flipper and severly injured. He was riding next to his father. As a result those rides are now retrofitted with those "thigh thingies" :) which should prevent to slide out of the seat.
Then there was the accident on Euro Mir...
What a bad year.