TTD: Bugs and Birds?

My friend asked me this question, to which I had no answer. 120 mph is darn fast...

Are there any sort of devices that they use to keep insects and/or birds out of the area of the launch? Like, maybe they emit some sort of high pitch frequency or something?

Yes, they do emit a high pitch frequency, it is called the riders. But seriously, I would hope they do something, because that would hurt to hit a bird going 120 mph.

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Rob

"Some people spend an entire LIFETIME wondering if they made a DIFFERENCE. The MARINES don't have that problem." -President Reagan 1985

The design of the first car should create enough lift/drag to send a bird well out of the way of a train, hopefully the same will be true for bugs but judgeing my MF experiences proabably not :(

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Summer 03-CP, HP, Canobie, SFNE, SFWOA, and SFGAm.
*** This post was edited by Touchdown 5/7/2003 8:23:16 PM ***

I doubt the trains were designed to create lift and drag. Both are variables that would be a disadvantage to the coaster. What you mean is that the front car is contoured to deter objects in its path.

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Krimson n' Kream, Spr 98

Antaun, yes thats exactly what I meant, sorry about the use of the wrong words to describe it. This just goes and proves the point that I am not an engineer :)

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Summer 03-CP, HP, Canobie, SFNE, SFWOA, and SFGAm.

From my knowledge, no. I doubt that any device has been installed to prevent this. Since MF opened, people tell me not to open your mouth at night unless your like a blue whale and screen out little snacks with your teeth. If MF doesn't have anything to prevent it, TTD will most likely not have anything either.

I can tell you one thing though, you won't see Fabio riding TTD! ;)

-Shawn Bailes

Hitting a bird is very unlikely in fact the only time that I ever heard of such an incident was the Fabio thing. but hitting bugs now thats a diffrent story.

I don't know, I've been in the public relations office when people have come in to get their clothes cleaned because they were on MF when it hit a bird and exploded all over them.

Granted, the odds are in your favor that it won't happen, but I'm sure at some point it will happen. Hopefully it will be the train, and not the riders, that hit it.

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Goccvp1

0 - 120 in 4 seconds. Biggest rush of my life so far (with apologies to my wife...and a few former girlfriends).

It seems that at the speed most coasters travel it would be a serious problem to get hit in the eye even by a bug. I wear glasses, so this probably minimizes the danger. I've never heard of any bug-in-the-eye experiences, although it must happen.

Speaking of bird incidences. About 10 years ago I was at a bird show in Universal Studios Orlando. At one point during the show the whole audience was asked to whistle so that this one bird would come out of his box and down to the trainer. But instead of one bird, 100s of birds came down. Well, I didnt realize it at the time, but one of those birds took a huge dump on my shoulder. I have no idea how I didnt feel this, but my friends got a good laugh over this for the rest of the day.

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Is that Freedom Rock? Well turn it up dude !!

I think a hit by a bird could easily be fatal at those speeds. 120 mph is the fastest freefall can get so hitting a bird at 120 mph would be comprable to falling a mile and hitting some softer type of ground head first. It would be the definition of a freak accident if that would happen. I hope Cedar Point is doing something to prevent birds flying by.

As for bugs, I thought of this when the ride was first announced and I think it would probably be a sting but wouldn't really take away from the ride experience.

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Warning: I do not think like the average person. My remarks have plenty of thought behind them. Take it for what it's worth, if you disagree, please, feel free to express it, but don't put me down because of it.

Once they get up to peak operation, I'm sure bids won't be flying all that close to the track. With the constant launches, the noise will be one to scare the birds away.

I do have a cool picture I'll have to post later tonight that shows the tower and a bird kinda closer that is moving pretty fast. It looks huge in comparison and looks like its going to hit the track.

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Chris Tyson
Photographer
www.pkiunlimited.com

We were there on opening day and noticed a bird on the rails. When the bakes dropped before the launch, it spooked the bird and it flew away. Hopefully CP will not have a Fabio incident.

-Bryan (Who thinks the coolest bird incident was when a bird flew in front of a Randy Johnson fastball and it looked like a feather pillow exploding. :) )

ESPN.com had a video of the "Randy Johnson vs bird" up last week.

I hear neither Fabio, Cher nor Joan Rivers will ever set foot in Cedar Point... ;)

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Evanescence-My Immortal. Coming to a rock opera near you...

People on rides definitely get hit by birds more often than you think. I've seen it happen. But it does raise a valid question..... it could be horrible if someone got hit by a bird during the launch on TTD.

I do have a hard time imagining that Intamin and CP sat down and designed the front of the train in order to deflect birds or bugs. I think the only thing they probably concentrated on when desinging was making it arrow-dynamic (no joke intended) and suitable for the theme.

As for Cher and Joan Rivers not visiting CP... I would think they would be drawn to the "instant" facelift on TTD. Then again.... Joan is already pulled pretty tight. So tight in fact, I'm pretty sure that when she blinks it pulls her pantyhose up.

Shaggy

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Shaggy

Proud A-lister!
*** This post was edited by Shaggy 5/8/2003 4:04:14 PM ***

Excessive plastic surgery *and* getting hit by a bird on TTD. That just sounds sick.

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Hey! Where's my free gift? I just voted for Hollywood's sexiest couple!

you mean aero dynamic? lol, anyways what you really have to watch out for is the seaguls at BPPB!, the bigone gets a few up the top!

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Colossus [1]
Nemesis: Inferno [6]

The Raging Wolf Bobs hit a duck in 1995 i believe. It was the front of the train that hit the bird and no people were hurt, but the bird was killed.

Funny you mention Arrowdynamic train design, Shaggy! Just watching riders on Dragster indicates that there is no wind break on that ride at all (unless somebody farts...) and riders are hit square in the face with a 120-mph wind. More if the wind is blowing off the lake as it often is. Likewise, my experience with Millennium Force is that you get a 92-MPH wind in the face (more if the wind is blowing off the bay).

But Magnum is a different story. The Magnum train has that nosepiece on it, and oddly enough, if you sit in the front seat, most of the wind on Magnum comes from behind you instead of hittiny you square in the face at 72 MPH.

Is this the difference between rides designed by civil engineers and rides built by aeronautical engineers?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.