Witnesses describe collision on Superman

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

More eyewitness accounts of the accident on Superman at Six Flags New England are published, but no reason for the failure that caused two trains to collide in the station has been given.

Read more from MassLive.com.

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Its terrible to see such a good coaster get in an accident like that. That's the second hypercoaster incident this year. Lets just hope its the last.
Excuse my ignorance, how could this be human error. This seems like a electrical or mechanical problem. I am sure this ride is safe from human error.
Doesn't S:ROS feature magnetic fail-safe brakes? Or are they the kind the flip out to the side to allow the car to pass through the safety block? What it sounds like to me is that those brakes were in the out position.

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Jes
Webmaster, Jes's Roller Coasters
www.jesms.cjb.net "Thank You Jeff Putz"
yes it does have magnetic brakes
What was the other hyprer that crashed.
So now, according to the article, one train crashed into the other one. (thats what they repeat over and over)

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"Thank you for challenging the Raging Bull-We hope you enjoy the rest of you're day, here at Six Flags Great America"
The other hyper you are referring too Medusafanatic, is Pepsi Max Big One.

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My favorite Coaster is named after Poop, and I actually like Boomerangs! What is wrong with me?
A sensor failed. I'll bet they find they knew about it and didn't replace it or it's on order and they figured they ccould run without it. Or Mackey payed an operator to hold open the brake release. There is a manual over-ride for the brakes.
Paul reubens has added his 2cents worth on accident, read the article below.

http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?eetype=Article&eeid=5046968&render=y

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Army rangers lead the way
It sounds to me like the person that they kept quoting that "Lin" person really didn't know what was going on. I love how they sensationalise. Yes it was terrible but I am almost certain it didn't take 45 minutes to get help. 5 minutes sounds about right. It probably felt like a long time because of what they were seeing

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Top 5 coasters:
1. The Beast 2. Millenium Force 3. The Incredible Hulk 4. Superman: ROS (SFNE) 5. Alpengeist
I bet it did take 45 minutes for OUTSIDE help to arrive. Parks generally have their own medical staff but not enough people to handle an accident of that size.
Wow, I was on SROS at SFA that very day. Half way through the day, they took off one of the trains, and none of us knew why. I guess this is why. I was telling my sister that the very small brake run is actually scary, because the one train gets so close to the train in the station. I thought it looked like a disaster waiting to happen.
Supermandl: Did you notice that the description of the brakes given in the link you provided were a description of fin brakes not magnetic brakes...
jeremy

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"Nobody writes about the planes that land." Steve Salerno Washington Times 7-10-01
2Hostyl: I'm pretty stupid when it comes to brakes on coaster's.
What is right the magnetic or fin brakes.

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Army rangers lead the way *** This post was edited by supermandl on 8/8/2001. ***
Yeah, I was like "What the hell?" when I read that...that isn't Superman's braking system at all.

What was Reubens smoking?
Jeff's avatar
From the photos I've seen of the ride, the magnetic brakes retract to release the train. Their normal, power off position is closed, meaning the magnet "sandwiches" cover the fins on the sides of the trains. The brakes themselves can't possibly fail, but they can be left open.

Now, for those to be allowed to open, the computer had to think that station was clear. I don't buy a single bad prox switch because they're redundant.

I think that one of two possibilities exist: Either the ride was in full manual (not sure how anyone would be able to do that), or the programming was totally wrong.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Block Checks?
You can't just put a system like the Superman into manual. Looks to me like it was a sensor malfuntion, or programming error, although I am reluctant to say it was an error in the programming. If it was, this probably would have happened alot earlier along.
Could someone tell me how it was possible for the trains to be smoking after the impact?

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Vortex rules!!!! (still)

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