Death at Icon Park accident

[Tom Morrow]

I think the weight limit seems to be more along the lines of, "these seats were designed to accommodate typical body dimensions up to 270lbs", not that more than that would be dangerous if the person could still be safely secured.

The problem here is, they didn't seem to have a solid definition on what is "secure".

 

[G00fyDad]

Dollywoods drop tower has been closed. It's listed as one of the rides guests over 6'4" and 270lbs should utilize the test seat before attempting to ride. There is nothing on their website about absolute maximum heights or weights.

Dollywood closed that tower because it was made by the same company and they wanted to make sure it was safe before reopening it.

 

[natatomic]

I wonder if that places the blame solely on the operators and frees the ride manufacturer from liability?

Even with stated size limits I’m still bothered by the fact the safety system allowed the ride to operate with the restraint at such a big angle. Regardless of a riders weight the ability to run with that large a gap looks like a huge safety risk.

I still don’t think so, unless weighing guests was part of their standard operating procedure and they just didn’t do it. But as far as I know (and please correct me if I’m wrong), there is no scale for guests to use. And weight is too “dangerous” to just guess, you know? That could end up a lawsuit if their instructions are literally, “if someone looks too big, don’t let them ride.” Weight, like height, needs a defined number - and it needs to be specifically measured, not eyeballed.
I think if it’s in the manual, I’d say this makes the PARK more liable, if it comes out that they did not train their employees to weigh riders beforehand.

 

[some other guy]

yeah I can see a mix of manufacturer and operator
if that thing could give a green light and take off with a harness as noticeably not-fully-closed that's on manufacturer, and if the operator doesn't notice that harness clearly wasn't fully closed that's on operator

 

[natatomic]

yeah I can see a mix of manufacturer and operator
if that thing could give a green light and take off with a harness as noticeably not-fully-closed that's on manufacturer, and if the operator doesn't notice that harness clearly wasn't fully closed that's on operator

Unless the operators are trained
“as long as the light comes on, it’s safe!“

I mean, when I worked at expedition Everest, we were literally trained, “you just need one click!” I know those two rides are different, but when it comes to being trained on safety procedures, operators are give him pretty much black and white parameters to look for. “Is the light on?”Check. “Does the child’s head reach the minimum height on the measuring stick?” Check. There are next to no subjective parameters given to the minimum wage employees, like, “is the harness down ‘enough?’” It shouldn’t be up to the kid running the ride to make that kind of judgment call in the moment, especially since that definition can vary from operator to operator. That’s why the locking mechanisms come with sensors so that there is a definitive “safe enough” standard for the operators to go off of. The problem is that the manufacturer did a very poor job that defining what is “safe enough.”
Having said that, I have been on the drop tower at Dollywood, and I rode next to someone who was about this kid’s size. Obviously he lived to tell the tale, and no one then made a judgment call that he was “too big.“ No one even batted an eye. However, it’s just a standard drop tower with no tilt. The manufacturer’s standard for “safe enough“ for the harness closures seemed to work fine on their regular drop towers. It would seem that those standards were not adjusted to take the tilt of the seats into consideration. And frankly, I don’t know how the ride engineers – whose job it is to take all of these variables into consideration - didn’t think of that.

 

[mergatroid]

The more you hear, the sadder it gets. That's often the case in these incidents

 

[some other guy]

Unless the operators are trained
“as long as the light comes on, it’s safe!“

I mean, when I worked at expedition Everest, we were literally trained, “you just need one click!” I know those two rides are different, but when it comes to being trained on safety procedures, operators are give him pretty much black and white parameters to look for. “Is the light on?”Check. “Does the child’s head reach the minimum height on the measuring stick?” Check. There are next to no subjective parameters given to the minimum wage employees, like, “is the harness down ‘enough?’” It shouldn’t be up to the kid running the ride to make that kind of judgment call in the moment, especially since that definition can vary from operator to operator. That’s why the locking mechanisms come with sensors so that there is a definitive “safe enough” standard for the operators to go off of. The problem is that the manufacturer did a very poor job that defining what is “safe enough.”
Having said that, I have been on the drop tower at Dollywood, and I rode next to someone who was about this kid’s size. Obviously he lived to tell the tale, and no one then made a judgment call that he was “too big.“ No one even batted an eye. However, it’s just a standard drop tower with no tilt. The manufacturer’s standard for “safe enough“ for the harness closures seemed to work fine on their regular drop towers. It would seem that those standards were not adjusted to take the tilt of the seats into consideration. And frankly, I don’t know how the ride engineers – whose job it is to take all of these variables into consideration - didn’t think of that.

I was thinking more the operator like, the organization who operates the ride, but yeah if the poor chump getting minimum wage is told "green light = go" I'm not gonna expect much more.

 

[Disney Analyst]

At 4:37 Tim mentions they were told that there was no weight limit on either new attraction.

 

[lewisc]

At 4:37 Tim mentions they were told that there was no weight limit on either new attraction.

So long as the harness safely closes around the rider

 

[cdd89]

Very informative thread.

I agree with almost all the posts above, but will differ on seatbelts. Universal’s “Dr Doom’s Fearfall” removed them a few years ago, which significantly speeds up cycle times.

Obviously adding the seatbelt is safer, but considering that adding seatbelts involves a trade-off — and there are no(?) reported occurrences of restraints themselves failing — I am comfortable riding attractions without “backup” seatbelts.

While one likely would have saved this kid’s life on this particular occasion, that’s secondary to the key issue that the restraint obviously wasn’t closed far enough. The solution is for ride manufactures/operators to add stricter protocols around the angle of closure (I can see no explicit reference to any sort of calibration protocols in the full manual; and the more I read, the more angry I am at this obvious unforgivable error, and if proven, I would expect the ride manufacturer to be criminally liable).

 

[lewisc]

I agree with almost all the posts above, but will differ on seatbelts. Universal’s “Dr Doom’s Fearfall” removed them a few years ago, which significantly speeds up cycle times.

Dr. DOOM doesn't tilt riders forward for the descent.

 

[some other guy]

Dr. DOOM doesn't tilt riders forward for the descent.

I suspect any amount of flopping around, regardless of degree would be an issue if some six foot plus obese person got strapped in.

Edited to be less insulting.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Dr. DOOM doesn't tilt riders forward for the descent.

Neither does Drop Tower at California’s Great America and a 12 year old slipped between the seat and restraints back in 1999. How the boy actually got out was not determined by the investigation but it did result in Intamin adding the seat belts to their rides.

 

[some other guy]

Neither does Drop Tower at California’s Great America and a 12 year old slipped between the seat and restraints back in 1999. How the boy actually got out was not determined by the investigation but it did result in Intamin adding the seat belts to their rides.

that's what gets me, even some basic waist restraints would be, what, five hundred bucks total?

 

[some other guy]

Woman claiming to be cousin of teen killed in fall from Orlando drop …

archived 1 Apr 2022 19:31:56 UTC

archive.ph

Woman claiming to be cousin of teen killed in fall from Orlando drop tower not known to family, deputies say

A woman who claimed to be related to a 14-year-old boy who died after falling from an Orlando thrill ride is not known to the teen’s family, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

www.clickorlando.com

things get weirder

 

[FettFan]

I wonder if that places the blame solely on the operators and frees the ride manufacturer from liability?

Even with stated size limits I’m still bothered by the fact the safety system allowed the ride to operate with the restraint at such a big angle. Regardless of a riders weight the ability to run with that large a gap looks like a huge safety risk.

Agreed. Redundancy is always the best option.

 

[FettFan]

Woman claiming to be cousin of teen killed in fall from Orlando drop …

archived 1 Apr 2022 19:31:56 UTC

archive.ph

Woman claiming to be cousin of teen killed in fall from Orlando drop tower not known to family, deputies say

A woman who claimed to be related to a 14-year-old boy who died after falling from an Orlando thrill ride is not known to the teen’s family, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

www.clickorlando.com

things get weirder

Sounds like one of the human leeches that attach themselves to the story so they can start up a fraudulent go fund me campaign.

 

[Lilofan]

Sounds like one of the human leeches that attach themselves to the story so they can start up a fraudulent go fund me campaign.

The most fraudulent was the couple and homeless guy helping out the girl stranded by the side of the road . The scam artists raised approx $400K in gofund me donations until they were caught.

 

[some other guy]

FreeFall death: Shay Johnson not who she claimed to be?

Officials say Shay Johnson is really Lewishena Browning.

www.mynews13.com

FreeFall death: Shay Johnson is not who she says she is

archived 5 Apr 2022 16:53:28 UTC

archive.ph

followup on the fake, apparently she's a stripper looking to sell t shirts, has a bit of a rap sheet in her past
I would have thought stripping would bring in better money than selling t shirts.

 

[Wilbret]

We were at a park yesterday, and a very large man was trying to board a coaster. They couldn’t get the harness to secure, and he became belligerent about it. They did everything they could to make it work. He even changed seats, took off his sweatshirt, and sucked in the gut. They thought they had it, and cleared for launch, but his seat flashed red.

He caused a +5 minute delay, and the crowd was urging him to just move on, it wasn’t safe, etc. He told the crowd, at least I’ll die doing what I love. The ride operators pushed and got it to latch.

All this to say, operators are afraid to kick some people off. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.