Accident at Disneyland (CA)

DMC-12

DMC-12

It's HarmonioUS, NOT HarmoniYOU.
I was just reading something off the AP wire... "the fatality was due to being impaled" Yikes :eek: :(
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
Originally posted by UncleJeet
Yes, but what caused the physical failure to pick this particular trip to derail on? That's where possible human error can creep in. Not negligence, mind you - maybe not even error in the sense that the CM would have any reason to know any better. However, I have a hard time bringing myself to believe that a part (or parts) that was either faulty or did not meet safety regulations at least minimally, would be allowed to pass the maintenance inspections.

UncleJeet
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I know none of the facts, but from here I am drawing comparisons to aviation disasters. Many many times the cause is found to be metal fatigue on a critical component. Hairline fractures cannot be seen by the naked eye, and therefore go un-noticed in daily inspections. As with aviation, a component with metal fatigue can operate for 10's of years without incident, until at a certain point stresses cause catastrohic failure.
 
pepper2028

pepper2028

New Member
One dead at DL

I work for a News Station in Wi this just came over the wires from AP

AP-Disneyland Accident (Tops)

One person killed in roller coaster accident in Disneyland

(Anaheim, California-AP) -- Authorities say one person is dead after a roller coaster accident at Disneyland.
Officials say a locomotive broke loose from a train on
Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster ride.
A police spokesman in Anaheim, California, says an adult male
was killed and ten other people were injured.
Earlier, one victim had been reported in critical condition at
the University of California Irvine Medical Center. But it's still
not clear if that's the person who died.
The roller coaster takes people on a twisting, turning ride
aboard what is supposed to be a runaway train in the Old West.

%AP Links

GRAPHICSBANK 211816 (12/01/02) 2000x1500
DISNEYLAND logo, white graphic element on black
 
mac388

mac388

New Member
I don't want to believe either that safety at Disney is slipping. However, I remember hearing from many CM's that they believe that efficiency is coming before safety in a lot of cases. I can tell you that I was there a week ago, and we spoke with a fellow Guest who is an engineer and had been visiting WDW for years now. He said that he's discouraged to see minor slips (while not on the scale of safety risks, per se) like paint peeling at the Yacht Club, doors not lined up correctly when closed, water fountains not working correctly. I don't think in any way this correlates to the safety of the attractions, I hope. I'm sure we'll see what happens.
 
SirNim

SirNim

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by josh_e_washie
i hope no one filmed it...aside from the fact that i don't think camcorders are allowed on attractions....
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They are allowed on attractions like BTMRR.... Pretty much, only the film attractions do not allow camcorder use...

Yikes... one fatality... :( :cry:
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by wdwmagic
I know none of the facts, but from here I am drawing comparisons to aviation disasters. Many many times the cause is found to be metal fatigue on a critical component. Hairline fractures cannot be seen by the naked eye, and therefore go un-noticed in daily inspections. As with aviation, a component with metal fatigue can operate for 10's of years without incident, until at a certain point stresses cause catastrohic failure.
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Well said, Steve. It is just severely unfortunate.

And, we should not forget that right now WDW is also in a "danger zone," as the hurricane is going over Florida...

We should pray for all in harm's way on both coasts.

(I wonder if WDW's Night of Joy tonight is cancelled, BTW, due to weather?)
 
thumper

thumper

Active Member
I posted my thought under the DL Forum - but I thought I would here as well..

This is a horrible tragedy and it had to happen on my favorite ride! :cry:

Despite this horrific accident, I hope it doesn't stop anyone from continuing to go on BTMRR in the future.

My thoughts go out to the families that were affected by this afternoon's events!:)
 
MKCustodial

MKCustodial

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by mac388
I don't want to believe either that safety at Disney is slipping. However, I remember hearing from many CM's that they believe that efficiency is coming before safety in a lot of cases. I can tell you that I was there a week ago, and we spoke with a fellow Guest who is an engineer and had been visiting WDW for years now. He said that he's discouraged to see minor slips (while not on the scale of safety risks, per se) like paint peeling at the Yacht Club, doors not lined up correctly when closed, water fountains not working correctly. I don't think in any way this correlates to the safety of the attractions, I hope. I'm sure we'll see what happens.
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Yeah, that's the kind of thing I was talking about, those examples exactly.
 
pinkrose

pinkrose

Well-Known Member
Originally posted by prberk
Well said, Steve. It is just severely unfortunate.

And, we should not forget that right now WDW is also in a "danger zone," as the hurricane is going over Florida...

We should pray for all in harm's way on both coasts.

(I wonder if WDW's Night of Joy tonight is cancelled, BTW, due to weather?)
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It the tropical storm that's over Fl. They are getting alot of rain. Doesn't make for much of a vacation and the flooding will be bad. :(

The hurricane is over Bermuda right now. I hope that the people of Bermuda will be ok. That's a rough one.
 
UncleJeet

UncleJeet

New Member
Originally posted by wdwmagic
I know none of the facts, but from here I am drawing comparisons to aviation disasters. Many many times the cause is found to be metal fatigue on a critical component. Hairline fractures cannot be seen by the naked eye, and therefore go un-noticed in daily inspections. As with aviation, a component with metal fatigue can operate for 10's of years without incident, until at a certain point stresses cause catastrohic failure.
Click to expand...

Excellent comparison. However, if safety and maintenance inspections are detailed and consistent, and the stresses of the coaster are known within a margin of error, then one can reasonably detect when a part is becoming too worn for continued use. You just do the math.

Of course, there can always be flaws like you have mentioned, but I suspect it's something more along the lines of "the park is really busy, we need to keep the lines movie, we've loaded up the trains this full a thousand times before and it's fine, let's go ahead" - only this time, the stresses (which are greater than what is expected) were too much and something happened.

Of course, that is a gross over simplification, and I don't think things happened this way exactly. It is just an example.

UncleJeet
 
dopey

dopey

New Member
This is a terrible tragedy, obviously. But keep in mind that Disney has a really good safety record, especially given the fact that there are hundreds of moving parts on dozens of rides that are used every day by tens of thousands of people. Billions and billions of people have had safe trips on these rides. Fatal accidents do occur at the Happiest Place on Earth, but a Disney ride is probably one of the safest machines in the world. Just a little perspective.
 

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