Theme Park Discussion / SFKK Accident

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19370146/

"LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Police confirmed that a 13-year-old girl's feet have been cut off at Six Flags' Kentucky Kingdom. Officials said they got the call around 5 p.m. Thursday. Officials said both her feet were detached at the ankle, but at least one witness said the girl's legs were completely gone.

According to MetroSafe dispatch supervisors, the girl was riding the Superman Tower of Power, which is 177 feet tall and drops riders at 54 miles per hour. According to Kentucky Kingdom, the girl was injured when the ride malfunctioned."

I heard about this a day or two ago, but never saw a topic about it here. So i figured why not post it. This accident is really unfortunate, SFKK is one park near me that I have not been to yet.

Edited by inVersed, 23 June 2007 - 10:55 AM.

Yeah, that sucks...

I just rode that a couple weeks ago. Excellent tower.

Nasty accident, though. I feel bad for that girl...

Most towers in the US (at least those owned by SF and Cedar Fair) are now closed until the investigation concludes.

The cable was never replaced in 13 years I heard... which is pretty bad.

Holy crap, that sucks. Those things are pretty cool, its too bad she had an accident on there.

The cable was never replaced in 13 years I heard... which is pretty bad.

That's what can make a ride literally dangerous. I feel bad for the 13 year old.

I don't get what happened here. Cable snap = loss of limbs? I don't get it. Maybe it would've been better if the people they interviewed as witnesses weren't talking like idiots.

A cable slashing your legs generally will be sharp enough to cut them off.. It's like that thing they use to cut cheese

As far as I could figure out from several sources it seems a cable snapped, hitting several people on the rideand in some way entangled the legs of the victim, sheering them of when there was force again on the cable. Dunno if this is true though. Perhaps we get a more clear story soon.
As far as the cables go, I believe there is a routine on checking the cables daily for bumps (which indicates faults in the cable). But as far as I remember that was on S&S towers... The question is if there's lacking maintenance and inspection issue.

Yeah it's still shrouded in confusion by the sounds of it. I feel for the girl and her family, but these accidents are really rare, surely.

why is it that bad maintenence of one ride shuts down all of them. wtf america.

^To just make sure it was only that one ride that it happend to and make sure it can not happen to others. This is hard to put together for me. Really need more info on this.
-JDP

Here's a quick video of the one at Canada's Wonderland, but it also talks about the SFKK accident and some witnesses.
http://video.tinypic...r.php?v=4kjg5rk

You also will see that the cable did indeed break.

Edited by Video_Kid, 23 June 2007 - 09:55 PM.

why is it that bad maintenence of one ride shuts down all of them. wtf america.

Because no one knows for sure if it was bad maintenance or if it was a fault of the ride itself. Too early to be jumping to conclusions here.

Anyway, the idea of it snapping and then coiling around the girl's legs is what sounds weird to me. I would think that if it snapped it would just fall to the ground. Still can't really get any sort of mental picture.

Actually, when I first read about this at another forum, my first thought was that maybe her legs were caught underneath the car when it hit the ground. Then I remembered it probably didn't hit the ground so fast, because of the brakes which were probably unrelated to the cables. But yes, the cable coiling seems unlikely... unless it's just one of those 1-in-a-million things that happen at amusement parks.

Although it's really too bad this is happening to the parks, because people are stupid enough to believe that if one ride breaks down, the rest are going to kill everyone that rides them. Like the guy saying "You want to come to a park and feel safe you know. We've got season passes. We're not coming back for sure."
That pisses me off so much. They just don't realize. I suppose it's instinctive, but if their speech matches their intelligence, I understand.

bitch probably deserved it

That's a terrible thing to say. I don't think anyone deserves to go to have a fun time at an amusement park and have something like this happen, no matter who it is.

Anyway, the idea of it snapping and then coiling around the girl's legs is what sounds weird to me. I would think that if it snapped it would just fall to the ground. Still can't really get any sort of mental picture.

The cable's under tension. When a stressed cable snaps, it whips around.

Stretch a rubber band until it breaks. Now imagine it's a steel cable.

-ACE

It's clearly been too long since I've been to an amusement park... Just seeing video of rides gets me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Anyway it's a shame for sure; doesn't effect me but still it's awful for that girl and her family.

Ride6

Actually, when I first read about this at another forum, my first thought was that maybe her legs were caught underneath the car when it hit the ground. Then I remembered it probably didn't hit the ground so fast, because of the brakes which were probably unrelated to the cables. But yes, the cable coiling seems unlikely... unless it's just one of those 1-in-a-million things that happen at amusement parks.

The cable coiled around her legs...that is one of the few things that has essentially been confirmed at this point.