General Chat / Man Dies on Superman at SFNE

but....schwartzkoph designed the track, supports, and trains. he just worked for intamin.

How could it "spin" a 55-yr-old man like a frisbee on to the rail? If it was towards the end of the ride.. it would be going slow to fling him.  And against a coaster rail? How could it do that if the train was on top of the rail.

Speaking of restraints.. Mindbender at SFoG has only lapbars and inversions.. and its intamin.  Surprising that it doesn't have too many problems.

1. The end of Superman is not slow.

2. Mindbender is made by Schwarzkopf. And what about all those Premier rides? They are perfectly safe, unless you go around unbuckling seat belts, one-click rides and such.

He came off at the last turn, which is INTENSE and has some great lateral G's. Hence the spinning part.

Woohoo, at least someone [Corkscrewed] knows what they're talking about. I'm surprised how little people know about coasters at this site. So yes, blame Intamin -- because it really is their fault when people screw around on their rides.

Woohoo, at least someone [Corkscrewed] knows what they're talking about. I'm surprised how little people know about coasters at this site. So yes, blame Intamin -- because it really is their fault when people screw around on their rides.

That kinda contrdicts itself gir. Usually, when people screw around with something, THEY are the ones resposible for themselves and their actions, not the maker/producer. If the customer was following the rules, then there's something up with the product.

That kinda contrdicts itself gir.  Usually, when people screw around with something, THEY are the ones resposible for themselves and their actions, not the maker/producer.  If the customer was following the rules, then there's something up with the product.

you're an idiot.

you're an idiot.

I second that

People shouldnt be able to 'screw around'. The ride should be safe, and news like this makes me NEVER want to ride a intamin coaster.

They say that girl was twisting on the water ride? Well that shouldnt cause her to fall out... I dont remember ever riding a coaster without over the shoulder restraints, and hearing about this ill keep riding them, they are comfortable, and much safer. All rides should have a seatbelt, it could be the difference between life or death.

How could it "spin" a 55-yr-old man like a frisbee on to the rail? If it was towards the end of the ride.. it would be going slow to fling him.  And against a coaster rail? How could it do that if the train was on top of the rail.

Speaking of restraints.. Mindbender at SFoG has only lapbars and inversions.. and its intamin.  Surprising that it doesn't have too many problems.

1. The end of Superman is not slow.

2. Mindbender is made by Schwarzkopf. And what about all those Premier rides? They are perfectly safe, unless you go around unbuckling seat belts, one-click rides and such.

On premier rides (like Batman and Robin: The Chiller) they put the lap bar (which is a lot bigger than the Intamin ones) down as far as it will possibly go. At times the ride operaters stand on the restraint to get the extra click. Also, I'm pretty sure they have a locking system developed for those restraints to make sure they don't come undone.


BchillerR

i was gonna go to sfne in a few weekends, so i guess im not gonna be riding superman

I second that

People shouldnt be able to 'screw around'. The ride should be safe, and news like this makes me NEVER want to ride a intamin coaster.

They say that girl was twisting on the water ride? Well that shouldnt cause her to fall out... I dont remember ever riding a coaster without over the shoulder restraints, and hearing about this ill keep riding them, they are comfortable, and much safer. All rides should have a seatbelt, it could be the difference between life or death.

Youve never ridden a coster with over the shoulder restraints huh? Then that means you only go on coasters that go upside down, because the last time I checked, the only non-inverted coaster without over the shoulder restraints is The Bandit and Youmiri Land in Japan, and they were taken off. There might be more but non worthy enough.
If you think OTSR's are comfortable...youve never ridden Flight of Fear havent you?

"People shouldnt be able to screw around. The ride should be safe, and news like this makes me NEVER want to ride a intamin coaster. "
The car should be safe. People shouldnt be able to drive drunk and screw around...If a guy crashes his Mustang lets say, because he was drunk, then Ill never drive a Ford again. They should be built safe.
Have you EVER been on an Intamin coaster?
If yes- Then you know what its like.
if no- Then dont be a narrow-minded pansy and screw Intamin because you read a news story.

Seriously. Some people on this site dont know shit about roller coasters. They know every park made in RCT, though. We need coaster and park discussion back.

If Im wrong about all of this, then I stand corrected.

That kinda contrdicts itself gir.  Usually, when people screw around with something, THEY are the ones resposible for themselves and their actions, not the maker/producer.  If the customer was following the rules, then there's something up with the product.

Ohhh wow.

http://edition.cnn.c...h.ap/index.html

That sheds some light on the man's situation.
It's really ignorant to start speculating about why and how the guy died when you really have no idea.
This could have been/most likely was a factor in his death.
Obviously Intamin cannot be held accountable for this when, in fact, the guy HAD an underlying medical condition.

And for Christ's sake, OTSRs are no more safe than lap bars.
A good lap bar could be able to take an OTSRs place if retrofitted correctly.
Schwarzkopf, Premier Rides and numerous others have proven that.

A few things to point out:
- Arrow and B&M hypercoasters do not have OTSRs.
- T-bars ARE just as safe as OTSRs when used correctly.
- S:ROS (SFNE) does not have inversions.
- Mindbender (SFoG) was designed/manufactured by Schwarzkopf, not Intamin.
- Bandit does not have inversions and does not have OTSRs. I have no idea what Langolier was trying to say.

I don't understand how you can like RCT, but not be privy to the happenings of the industry.
I'm just a weird one that's like that?

People are idiots.
The guy rides one of the tallest and fastest rollercoasters with a handicap.
Thats not very bright, to say the least.

Bandit did have OTSRs at one time, John. Its in one of the coaster books I have. White Knuckle Ride is the name of the book I believe.

Though he did have cerebral palsy, that's no guarantee that it was his fault, John. Just to make things clear.

However, I DO see where the ride ops could have been irresponsible. Possibly, they didn't lower the restraints far enough, leaving enough space to allow one unfortunate force to pull him out of the car.

Those who are quick to blame the restraint system ARE pretty ignorant, though. OTSR's are often uncomfortable, especially on some of the rougher systems, and many coasters unnecessarily have them due to overzealous legal constraints. Flight of Fear and some of the Premeir launched rides have done fine after switching from OTSR's to normal lap bars. Lap bars, when properly secured, should never pose a problem. In the unlikely (and thusfar, historically undocumented) case of bar failure, THAT would be a problem, but in that case, there'd be no difference whether or not it was a lap bar or an OTSR that failed.

You're right, riders should never be able to twist around on a ride, but that is the ride ops' responsibiltiy to make sure the restraints are lowered properly. Don't be so quick to blame a coaster company, unless you want to get caught up in Markey-esque paranoia.

Bandit did have OTSRs at one time, John.  Its in one of the coaster books I have.  White Knuckle Ride is the name of the book I believe.

That makes much more sense than what you originally said. Re-read it and see if it makes sense.

Yeah, youre right. I switched it.

WTF is with all these coaster accidents? I remember a few years ago, there would maybe be a freak accident here and there, maybe every five or six months, but not like one every three weeks. Seriously, that is almost what it is now. I think this is seriously a really bad pattern. This isn't something that you should just brush off, one by one. This is something that needs to be fixed. I personally think we need semi-circle lap bars. These are bars that go down snugly to the person's waist, and also wrap partially around the person's legs or waist (either one). Someone twisting around shouldn't fall out of a ride. I think that a little bit of thrill factor can be sacrificed so that these fatalities stop occurring so often.

For crying out loud, it wasn't the lap bar's fault.

maybe they didn't tie down his restraint far enough because they knew that the guy would be shaking like a wildman.