Theme Park Discussion / Ninja derailed @ SFMM

The Arrow Suspended coaster Ninja at Six Flags Magic Mountain derailed about twenty minutes ago.

The cause of the accident appears to have been one of the cars slamming into a tree (EDIT: apparently a tree fell onto the track, which the train then hit) and destroying the front half of the carriage assembly above the car, leaving the car dangling by one axle 20 feet in the air and grinding the entire train to a halt.

http://ktla.com/2014...ire-department/

Hahaha. Fucking prebuilt rides in RCT always crashing.

This is an interviewed guest:

"The people that were on the ride like their family and friends they're kinda freaking out a little bit and that's like we were like *gasp like what happened?

Cool story!

i like his story

To be honest, arrow engineers probably did think about it, but in the 20+ years its been operating, Magic Mountain probably let the trees grow a bit more than they should have. Looking at older aerial photos of the ride (rcdb), you can definitely see the tracks better in older shots.

 

A tree could potentially fall on any coaster built near trees, its just that it hasn't happened in recent history. 

I thought a branch fell into the path of the ride? I might be thinking of something else. Glad everyone's alright, and I really hope this doesn't have too drastic consequences for Ninja. That ride is too awesome to go anywhere.