Teen falls from ferris wheel at Joyland park

Here is a little blurb about a girl who fell off a ferris wheel at joyland park, not alot of info yet.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/local/8459560.htm

* Adix adjusts the "Days without an amusement ride mishap" to '0'*

How many accidents is it this year, now?

ouch, that must have hurt

If you want to rock your ferris wheel car, go to DCA or Coney Island and in the right place, your ferris wheel car will rock you.

+Danny

Whats going on with all these accidents this year?

My prayers go out to her and her family.

I'm glad she's alive. She was alledgedlly taking Darwin to task; hopefully she'll re-think her MO...

This reminds me of the incident that happened at the Pavilion at Myrtle Beach. I remember a girl and another guy were rocking there chair and they fell out. The guy went straight to the ground and died and the girl held on to some supports. I was there that night and I saw the staff climb up the ferris wheel and save the girl. I am so happy the teen didn't die, but lets start following instructions.

Unless you are loading/unloading...

If you need to roll into and out of the car, you really shouldn't be riding.

+Danny

I assume this is an Eli Bridge Wheel... if thats the case, they always seem to dump riders who rock their tubs.

Wow, when will people learn to read or listen or wow, maybe even follow instructions? She should have listened or read a sign, if it was posted. Lesson learned. *** Edited 4/19/2004 3:07:28 AM UTC by stoogemanmoe***

Sounds like they need to lower the center of gravity of the tubs. Don't know if it'd be possible given the ride dimensions though.

Some sort of viscous damping on the hinges could also reduce the ability to rock the seats.

I'm assuming we're talking about an Eli wheel here...

The seat on an Eli wheel has two castings, one on each side, which end just short of the top of the seat; these castings rest directly on the seat pins on the wheel. Very simple.

Unfortunately, if you sit back in the seat, the location of that seat pin is about mid-chest height, and just ahead of the rider. That puts it barely above the rider's CG, and slightly out front. As a consequence, it is really easy to rock the seat.

I did ride one wheel that was easier than most to rock; that one had hard foam seat cushions, which caused the rider to sit higher and further forward in the seat, CG even closer to the point of rotation. That was almost frightening.

I wonder if the problem of people rocking the seats could be solved by simply mounting a large weight on the bottom of the seat, preferrably heavier than a typical full load, to lower the tub CG so that it will always "want" to hang down.....

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

"Survival of the fittest" strikes again.
Man what is it with you crazy Jawhawkers and not listening to instructions - you pull thi crap over at WOF too. Grrrr!!! I mean, I'm glad she is all right, but for crying out loud.

-SS

how stupid are people becoming... why would you rock the pod of a ferris wheel?

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RideMan said:

I wonder if the problem of people rocking the seats could be solved by simply mounting a large weight on the bottom of the seat, preferrably heavier than a typical full load, to lower the tub CG so that it will always "want" to hang down.....

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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Makes sense, although with a full load, the weight of the load would effectively be doubled. I wonder if that would have any averse effects on the structure of the ride or the drive mechanism.

I doubt it would be a structural problem. I understand that each seat pin can handle a load in excess of the entire weight of a #5 ground-mount wheel, and I presume the rest of the ride is equally overengineered. The drive system might be a bigger concern, but I am not certain of that...remember that what the drive system on a Ferris wheel has to overcome is not the full mass of the wheel, but rather its inertial moment. In other words, the drive mechanism has to overcome the unbalance of the wheel, and if the counterweight mass is applied equally to all twelve or sixteen tubs, the added load should have a minimal effect on the drive.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Very true, but supposing that the ride op isn't that bright and doesn't evenly distribute a light load, then I can see problems beginning. I'm sure that it takes very little "grunt" to turn the wheel, but when you consider that some of those Eli wheels are decades old, you may run into problems with some. That's assuming that old models are retrofitted, of course, and I can't see that happening.

DECADES old? Try CENTURIES! :)

(yes, Eli Bridge Co. has been around more than 100 years, and there is no telling how old the oldest operating one is. Well, SOMEONE probably knows; the company is still being operated by the Sullivan family...)

Such a retrofit is only a thought experiment anyway. Eli wheels have been running for more than a century, and riders who behave themselves can ride these things for hours and never even come close to coming out. This is what's known as a "service proven" design.

On a related note, I read a news article today about the Joyland incident, and...I don't know what it is...but something about what I read in that story gives me a whole lot of respect for David Rohr, the park's owner. I haven't quite figured out why, but his comments quoted in the article somehow strike me as not just "appropriate" but actually "classy".

--Dave Althoff, Jr.