from the Orlando Sentinel:
Visitor passes out on coaster By Amy C. Rippel, Todd Pack and Sarah Hale Meitner
September 24, 2003
ORLANDO (Orlando Sentinel) -- A South Florida woman who passed out on the Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal Orlando at the end of a ride Tuesday afternoon was in critical condition at nearby Sand Lake Hospital, the victim of an apparent heart attack.
The coaster ride, at the Islands of Adventure theme park, reaches speeds of 65 mph. It was shut down as a precaution but was found to be operating normally and is expected to reopen today, Universal President Bob Gault said.
"There was no malfunction. This is simply an unfortunate guest illness," Gault said during a news conference. "Our thoughts go out to the guest and the guest's family."
Relatives identified the woman as Leslie Killer, 34, of Jensen Beach, a district sales manager for Godiva Chocolates.
She and her co-workers were in Orlando for a three-day meeting, had the afternoon off and decided to go to Universal, Killer's father, Charles Vaughn of Stuart, said late Tuesday.
"She's always been in really good shape," he said. She has two sons, 11 months old and 4 years old.
Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said the woman was alert moments before her coaster train approached the unloading area.
A camera, which takes pictures of guests while they are on the roller coaster, snapped a photograph that indicates she was conscious, Schroder said.
Gault said 32 passengers were on the ride, and when the coaster came into the station, the woman was conscious. While the coaster was moving to the unloading platform, during which the train brakes slowly, she passed out.
Universal ride operators first noticed she was unconscious, he said, and park first-aid staff used a defibrillator to try to revive her.
Since the ride opened in 1999, "Nothing like this has ever happened, and millions of people have ridden it," Gault said.
Dr. Nasir Rahmatullah, the hospital cardiologist treating Killer, said she was not responding to any commands when she was brought to the hospital. She has no medical history of heart problems, he said.
Rahmatullah said the woman took an over-the-counter pain reliever in the morning . He said the cardiac arrest would have likely happened at some point, whether she was on the ride or not.
"For a young person with a young heart, for me it is hard to believe what actually happened," he said. "It just so happened that she was on the ride."
Deputy Chief Kathy Miller of the Orlando Fire Department said the woman's companions said she had complained about jaw pain earlier in the day.
"Sometimes cardiac pain can radiate to the jaw," Miller said.
The Hulk coaster ride, which opened in 1999, drops passengers into seven loops, and lasts two minutes and 15 seconds.
It catapults riders up a 150-foot tunnel and immediately spins them into a weightless zero-G roll, turning them upside down more than 110 feet above the ground.
Riders then dive at about 60 mph before skimming the waves of the lagoon and then rising 109 feet before plunging once again.
Signs posted near the entrance warn pregnant women and people with health problems, including heart conditions, not to ride.
Other guests at the park said they knew little about what happened but would ride the coaster anyway.
"Sure, I'd ride it again," said Allison Gardner, 24, who was visiting Orlando from San Diego with her friend Javier Sastoque, 23. "This was probably a fluke."
Joshua Greene, 24, of Maine, agreed. "Signs clearly point out that anyone with any pre-existing health conditions shouldn't ride it. If this woman knew she was ill, and still went on the ride, then that has nothing to do with the coaster."
The coaster accelerates to 40 mph in two seconds and sends passengers along a track that loops and twists before coming to a stop two minutes later.
In addition to shutting down the ride, Universal also temporarily pulled advertisements for next month's Halloween Horror Nights at Islands of Adventure.
State law exempts Florida's large amusement parks from state inspections, but after a series of tragic theme-park accidents across the country in the late 1990s, Universal, Walt Disney World and SeaWorld agreed to let state inspectors visit their properties in October 1999.
Officials with the rides-inspection bureau said those site visits gave them "a reasonable degree of confidence" in the parks' rides.
The parks eventually entered into a memorandum of understanding with the rides-inspection bureau to begin voluntarily reporting accidents that result in serious injury.
The agreement defines a serious injury as one requiring "immediate admission and hospitalization in excess of 24 hours for purposes other than medical observation."
Since the parks started reporting injuries in early 2002, Universal has reported eight serious injuries, none involving the Hulk coaster.
The only death reported at any of Orlando -area parks through the second quarter of 2003 was an 81-year-old woman who suffered a heart attack at Epcot's Universe of Energy attraction in March and later died.
Islands' Incredible Hulk Coaster is themed to the Marvel comic book about a scientist who becomes a green-skinned beast when he becomes angry.
