Three children are thrown from Cliff Hanger carnival ride at fair

Oh man. Someone left a codder pin out. This is one of my nightmares come true. What a horrific experience for the kids, family members and witnesses.

Just so everyone knows which ride we are referring to...

http://www.wadeshowsinc.com/picturepagecons.htm
http://www.co.douglas.ne.us/dept/fair/midway2002/midway.php
http://starbulletin.com/2000/02/03/features/story2.html

It features 10 - three person cars, themed to hang gliders, where riders lie on their stomachs in a pseudo hang glider.

Is there another story out that said something about the cotter pin being missing? From what I can see of this ride, it would not have run without the cotter pin.

Plus on this link ( http://www.tampabaylive.com/stories/2004/01/040119ride.shtml ) it was inspected three days earlier and that a "manufacturers defect" may have caused the accident.

As does this news story... http://www.wtsp.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=6562 and in fact in this story's ( http://www.wtsp.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=6546 ) video clip you can see the state inspector possibly looking at the welds in the arm of the ride.
*** This post was edited by redman822 1/20/2004 10:07:44 AM ***

I'm sorry. That was a guess and not a fact. Either way it is awfully sad.

Oh my. I once saw one of these rides at a carnival in Northern Kentucky along the Ohio River. The ride was placed so that riders would fly partly over the water. Could you imagine if a car came loose and flew into the water in that scenario? Scary to think about it. Would the restraints unlock, or would the riders be trapped?

I thought about it when I saw the ride and it kind of freaked me out. It was the only time I was ever concerned for my safety. Then again, it was a traveling ride, so that didn't help.

My prayers go out to all involved.

Thats too bad. Dartron rides really had good safty records.

Here's a follow-up on one of the victims... http://www.tampabaylive.com/stories/2004/01/040120rides.shtml The mother didn't have insurance and ran out of funds for treatment and the hospital wouldn't cast the broken arm until a news station got a local doctor to help her out.