Death at Icon Park accident

[Lilofan]

It's kind of both. It's off International Drive. It's not a park in the sense of Disney, Universal, Sea World or Busch Gardens but there's a few attractions in a small area. Here's a pic to give you an idea of the size.

It's a huge eyesore for the affluent living in the Dr Phillips/ Windermere area seeing the carnival lights from their residence but it is the vacation capital of the world.

 

[Lilofan]

It only has an over the shoulder harness, no belt. And it tilts the seats forward 30 degrees before dropping

The 14 year old on vacation with his family from Missouri, that fell from the ride was reported by media to be very obese. Was he strapped securely before the ride started? Surely part of the investigation.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Looks like either operator or manufacturer error. He was a larger boy, and there is a significant gap between the bottom of the restraint and the seat - obviously large enough for him to slide through (is that called “submarining?”)

Maybe the operator didn’t check the restraint - but I would imagine on a ride THIS new there are surely sensors indicating if a harness isn’t closed properly, and it would probably be impossible to start the ride if his harness wasn’t clicked fully, per the computer’s standards. But that leads me to believe that the restraint WAS clicked “enough” and the manufacturer simply made a grave error in defining was “enough” was.

I don’t think the harness itself FAILED, per se. In the video after the incident, you can see that the harness is still locked in the closed position.

Time will tell, but that’s my guess.

I feel bad for the worker - people are already ready to hang him by his toenails because he was making a joke about “check the seatbelts.” It’s an old, tired joke in the theme park industry for rides that don’t have seatbelts - just a way to (usually) have fun with the riders. I’ve heard it on Everest, I’ve heard it on Tough to Be a Bug, I’ve heard it on the Safaris, just to name a few. Normally, it’s harmless, if not annoying. In this case, I hope it’s not incriminating. I mean, maybe the worker will be found at fault for SOMETHING. But using a common, dumb joke shouldn’t be used against him.

Bet that joke won’t be allowed at any rides in the area from now on, though.

It's possible that the harness did fail but the braking of the ride allowed it to close further.

Again, speculation, but I'm leaning towards the manufacturer set the minimum allowed level of a "locked harness" too high. It's also insane that a ride like this does not have redundancy seatbelts.

 

[Tom Morrow]

It's a huge eyesore for the affluent living in the Dr Phillips/ Windermere area seeing the carnival lights from their residence but it is the vacation capital of the world.

It wouldn't be an eyesore if they didn't insist on tacky LED lighting, but I guess they couldn't resist. I think the wheel looks fine.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Looks like either operator or manufacturer error. He was a larger boy, and there is a significant gap between the bottom of the restraint and the seat - obviously large enough for him to slide through (is that called “submarining?”)

Maybe the operator didn’t check the restraint - but I would imagine on a ride THIS new there are surely sensors indicating if a harness isn’t closed properly, and it would probably be impossible to start the ride if his harness wasn’t clicked fully, per the computer’s standards. But that leads me to believe that the restraint WAS clicked “enough” and the manufacturer simply made a grave error in defining was “enough” was.

I don’t think the harness itself FAILED, per se. In the video after the incident, you can see that the harness is still locked in the closed position.

Time will tell, but that’s my guess.

I feel bad for the worker - people are already ready to hang him by his toenails because he was making a joke about “check the seatbelts.” It’s an old, tired joke in the theme park industry for rides that don’t have seatbelts - just a way to (usually) have fun with the riders. I’ve heard it on Everest, I’ve heard it on Tough to Be a Bug, I’ve heard it on the Safaris, just to name a few. Normally, it’s harmless, if not annoying. In this case, I hope it’s not incriminating. I mean, maybe the worker will be found at fault for SOMETHING. But using a common, dumb joke shouldn’t be used against him.

Bet that joke won’t be allowed at any rides in the area from now on, though.

I thought the same, he was a big kid which increases the gap between the bottom of the restraint and the end of the seat. A simple seat belt strap between the restraint and seat could have likely prevented this.

An incredibly sad situation for everyone.

 

[natatomic]

I thought the same, he was a big kid which increases the gap between the bottom of the restraint and the end of the seat. A simple seat belt strap between the restraint and seat could have likely prevented this.

An incredibly sad situation for everyone.

Possibly. How much force can a typical theme park seatbelt withstand? I don’t ask to be glib or insulting. I genuinely don’t know what it would take to make a seatbelt unclip mid-ride. But you can tell when the ride brakes, coupled with a person’s size, there seems to be significant force that event the seatbelt may not have been able to handle if someone was on the verge of falling out. But I really have no idea. either way, at least it would have been one more safeguard to protect people from incidents like this. Maybe it would have saved the kid’s life. Maybe it wouldn’t have. The large gap, I’d imagine, is going to be the main culprit here.

 

[Lilofan]

Possibly. How much force can a typical theme park seatbelt withstand? I don’t ask to be glib or insulting. You can just tell when the ride brakes, coupled with a person’s size, there seems to be significant force that event the seatbelt may not have been able to handle if someone was on the verge of falling out. But I really have no idea. either way, at least it would have been one more safeguard to protect people from incidents like this. Maybe it would have saved the kid’s life. Maybe it wouldn’t have. The large gap, I’d imagine, is going to be the main culprit here.

In the video the ride was going down and halfway down one can see the kid get separated from his strapped seat and fall all the way down. When the ride stopped, the other riders quickly exited their seats near where the kid was lying face down.

 

[Patcheslee]

Possibly. How much force can a typical theme park seatbelt withstand? I don’t ask to be glib or insulting. I genuinely don’t know what it would take to make a seatbelt unclip mid-ride. But you can tell when the ride brakes, coupled with a person’s size, there seems to be significant force that event the seatbelt may not have been able to handle if someone was on the verge of falling out. But I really have no idea. either way, at least it would have been one more safeguard to protect people from incidents like this. Maybe it would have saved the kid’s life. Maybe it wouldn’t have. The large gap, I’d imagine, is going to be the main culprit here.

I'm horrible at math, but a stop from 75mph would put a ton of strain on a belt.

 

[Master Yoda]

Possibly. How much force can a typical theme park seatbelt withstand? I don’t ask to be glib or insulting. I genuinely don’t know what it would take to make a seatbelt unclip mid-ride. But you can tell when the ride brakes, coupled with a person’s size, there seems to be significant force that event the seatbelt may not have been able to handle if someone was on the verge of falling out. But I really have no idea. either way, at least it would have been one more safeguard to protect people from incidents like this. Maybe it would have saved the kid’s life. Maybe it wouldn’t have. The large gap, I’d imagine, is going to be the main culprit here.

Bones and organs will break before a properly working seatbelt will.

Unless things have changed since I last looked this up, a typical seatbelt assembly is required by law in the US to withstand 22,000 Newtons. The fabric itself will rate between 3k and 6k of tensile strength (Airline seatbelts are typically of the 3k variety). In practical terms, it will hold your average adult human weight pulling about 15 G's.

 

[Tom Morrow]

The seatbelts on rides like Hulk actually have two functions:

1. They serve as an indicator for if the harness is down far enough. If it can buckle = down far enough.
2. Redundancy for if the harness does fail

A seatbelt would have likely saved this kid's life, or prevented him from being able to ride in the first place.

There's another video floating around from before the riders were sent up. As it's leaving, the operator yells something about seatbelts. The ride doesn't have seatbelts, and this is just a scare tactic that is common at these 3rd rate operations (nearly every SlingShot operator makes a similar joke). Of course, the internet is running wild with this and assuming that this means that they weren't properly checked. I hope that this means the end of operators being able to make jokes like that, I've always found it super unprofessional.

 

[Piebald]

Unfortunately I saw the video and while the boy did seem large is there any proof he *was* large? I mean at 14 unless he was abnormally large I just imagine theres plenty of adults who have ridden who were tall or heavy. I'm just very curious as I know a lot of large people who get frustrated with how restricting Universal can be with their attractions.

 

[Tom Morrow]

There's pics/video floating around from before they were sent up. Just guessing, but the kid looks like, if this were Hulk, he would have absolutely needed the larger seat, or not been able to ride at all. Definitely pretty big. No disrespect to him of course... this should never have happened.

 

[Piebald]

There's pics/video floating around from before they were sent up. Just guessing, but the kid looks like, if this were Hulk, he would have absolutely needed the larger seat, or not been able to ride at all. Definitely pretty big. No disrespect to him of course... this should never have happened.

I replied to this thread right before you but just found a picture of the kid. With all due respect this was not a regular 14 yr old size kid. This was a child who you would see on those crazy sports pages where Nick Saban is recruiting a 14 year old because theyre as big as the offensive linemen in the NFL. Poor kid.

 

[Lilofan]

I replied to this thread right before you but just found a picture of the kid. With all due respect this was not a regular 14 yr old size kid. This was a child who you would see on those crazy sports pages where Nick Saban is recruiting a 14 year old because theyre as big as the offensive linemen in the NFL. Poor kid.

Reminds me of the movie " The Blind Side " starring Sandra Bullock and Coach Saban makes a cameo about the true life story of a Hulk lineman recruited to go to Ole Miss, drafted in the first round , then play several years in the NFL. Its a feel good movie. The 911 calls described the 14 year old as approx 300 pounds I've heard DAK has a 300 lb weight limit per guest for the optional Safari Trek tour where guests walk across a suspension bridge.

 

[Patcheslee]

There's pics/video floating around from before they were sent up. Just guessing, but the kid looks like, if this were Hulk, he would have absolutely needed the larger seat, or not been able to ride at all. Definitely pretty big. No disrespect to him of course... this should never have happened.

The few drop towers I've seen have maximum rider heights due to the shoulder restraints as well.

 

[Piebald]

Reminds me of the movie " The Blind Side " starring Sandra Bullock and Coach Saban makes a cameo about the true life story of a Hulk lineman recruited to go to Ole Miss, drafted in the first round , then play several years in the NFL. Its a feel good movie. The 911 calls described the 14 year old as approx 300 pounds I've heard DAK has a 300 lb weight limit per guest for the optional Safari Trek tour where guests walk across a suspension bridge.

This victim was 6'6 280 according to his uncle

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Judging by this picture alone this doesn’t look safe and should have been a huge red flag. Tyre is the young man on the right and there’s a ton of room between the bottom of his restraint and the seat. The restraints should be close to 90’, his looks like it’s maybe 45’. Accident just waiting to happen.

 

[Tom Morrow]

We shouldn't jump to blaming the operators just yet though, they might have been trained that where his harness is at there is acceptable. In the video (I advice against looking for and watching it honestly) the ride operator says that "the light was on" twice, meaning there is some sort of indicator for if a harness is down far enough or not. There might even be a failsafe in place that prevents the ride from starting if the harnesses aren't down far enough. I don't know, though.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

We shouldn't jump to blaming the operators just yet though, they might have been trained that where his harness is at there is acceptable. In the video (I advice against looking for and watching it honestly) the ride operator says that "the light was on" twice, meaning there is some sort of indicator for if a harness is down far enough or not. There might even be a failsafe in place that prevents the ride from starting if the harnesses aren't down far enough. I don't know, though.

True, I shouldn’t have singled out the operators (and have since edited the post), I should have said to those who wrote the policies, if this configuration of the ride restraint was considered safe, and trained as safe, it’s not the operators fault, and they likely don’t have any authority to override the written safeguards if they said he was safe to ride in the first place.

 

[donsullivan]

It seems like (while I understand it's human nature) it would be best to avoid any speculation on what 'might' have caused this tragedy until the full investigation by the professionals with access to the equipment and proper training is completed. Yes, I know I'm preaching, but between the tragedy of this loss of this young man and the trauma I imagine the employees working are experiencing having the whole Internet of theories piling on will not help any of them much.

So far, all indications are that the ride operators are fully cooperating with the investigation that was actively underway today and while it may take a while, there will be a formal report from the state of what they believe happened. The attraction was inspected by the state in December when it opened and it was given the authorization to open. That was only 4 months ago so there was no known need for any additional state inspections. All indications are they were complying with all of the mandatory safety procedures and record-keeping required by the state. Most of the local news stations are reporting it as a tragic accident right now but only the investigation will tell us for sure.