Texas Sky Screamer

White knuckles anyone?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jS_26ylj3I

This almost looks un-safe.

I can't wait to try that out. I didn't expect the seats to twist that much while the ride is at full speed. That has to add a lot to the thrill.

There were a lot of videos circulating around Facebook of local media personalities riding. It's interesting that he pointed out how windy it was since yesterday was an unusually calm day in D-FW for this time of year. The PGA is in Fort Worth this weekend and I heard a couple of interviews this morning with golfers noting that yesterday's winds were the lightest they had ever experienced at this particular tournament.

Yep. We live about 5 blocks from the Colonial and were setting fence posts yesterday. No wind at all. Ride officially opens on Sat. but I'll probably be first in line on Monday to avoid the crowds.

Edit: Oh right, Monday is a national holiday. Tuesday it is.

Wow... using chains at that height...

There better be a weight limit.

NOPE.

This is where I draw the line.

enfynet said:

Wow... using chains at that height...

What would you suggest using other than chains? And why does the height matter? If a chain (or all of them) breaks and your seat is flung from the ride, the outcome isn't going to be much different if you're 20 feet off of the ground versus 300 feet.

20ft vs 300ft is a considerable difference. You can land from 20ft with minor bruises. At 300ft the chance for minor injuries is virtually impossible, with a chance for major injuries much higher.

Rides (and other things) are built with a very good factor of safety. For example: if the weight limit on Sky Screamer is 400lbs, and the factor of safety was 4, that would mean the ride could actually hold 1,600lbs.

Speaking of big people on rides, I think there was a video posted a few years ago of a ride breaking when some big people were on it. There were 2 now that I think of it; one where the chain would no longer pull the train up, and one where the coaster car actually broke apart. Oh well, so much for factor of safety.

*Scary thought* of someone with a hand saw, who didn't take their meds, furiously sawing away at the chains... But I think the engineers probably covered it all.

Any which way, that ride looks scary as h-e-double-hockey-sticks. The smaller versions really did a number on me. Several times. Can't wait to ride it. Aside from the dated Six Flags logo on top, the ride looks great.

The fact is that at 300 feet tall, there is a longer time that you are at the death level. The death level means the level of height that you fall and die from.

Don't worry Tyler, I'm sure the engineers took the death level into account when designing this ride.

enfynet said:

20ft vs 300ft is a considerable difference. You can land from 20ft with minor bruises. At 300ft the chance for minor injuries is virtually impossible, with a chance for major injuries much higher.

If you're flung from a spinning ride 20 feet off of the ground, there's still a very high chance you could die. You can die from a head injury falling from 4 feet when you're standing completely still.

At 300', you needn't fear "major injuries."

Hearses drive much slower than ambulances...

GayCoasterGuy said:

Rides (and other things) are built with a very good factor of safety. For example: if the weight limit on Sky Screamer is 400lbs, and the factor of safety was 4, that would mean the ride could actually hold 1,600lbs.

[...]

Any which way, that ride looks scary as h-e-double-hockey-sticks. [...]

I am very familiar with factor of safety. My comment about the chains has more to do with the second half of the quote. My reply to bigboy was to entertain his concept that 20ft and 300ft are the same thing.

Wave Swinger style rides have been around for what, 30 years or more? I don't recall ever hearing of one of those losing a chair.

Actually chair-o-planes, the predecessor to the Wave Swinger have been a mainstay on midways for over a century. I have seen what happens when a chain has failed on one of those. It ain't pretty. Of course in that particular instance the back woods mechanic that worked for that carny used a cast master link to repair a chain. The rider shouldn't have been on that ride, coupled with the rotational force caused the stress on the master link to exceed it's design limits, causing said rider to be literally slung across the midway landing on a concession tent. Injured several people in the tent, and as I recall the rider broke his back. This and several other incidents like this lead to the outlawing the use of masterlinks in this application in most states.

I bet Timber Rider knows a friend who was on a Wave Swinger when the chain broke ... or fell from 300 ft and lived ... or from 20 and died.

Man, that'd suck to get launched off of a Wave Swinger and crash mid-Timbers.

Is mid-Timbers at the turnaround, or halfway to the turnaround? Either way you'd probably have to be pretty high to make it all the way from the main park.