Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
It's shocking and hopefully we get the story correctly reported here in the next 24 hours.
My guess is he wasn't heavy enough to be weighted down and hit a bar or something on the way down.
Looks like riders are in a seat belt harness...or at least supposed to be. You can see the shoulder strap on the guy in this video.
Is that chain link fencing encompassing the top of the slide? He was probably too small for the harness, slipped out on the way down then his chin probably caught on of the links in the fencing snapping his head clean off due to the speed of the descent.
Wow--if you look closely at that video--right at the bottom of the first hump around the 2:11-2:12 mark--there is an actual gap/opening in the netting. My guess is that if he wasn't harnessed in properly--that very point at the bottom of the drop is where somebody could easily get kicked up and airborne--and if he somehow flew up into that gap at 70mph-- and hit the brace where the next set of netting starts--that would be absolutely catastrophic. Such a tragedy
There is definitely a gap. It is even more visible in other videos out there, but it doesn't seem likely for someone to come out of their seat at the bottom of the hill. In fact, physics dictates that this would be the location where you would feel pressed into the seat the most.
According to that article, riders experience about 5 gs at the bottom of the hill. So, a 100 lb rider would feel as if they were 500 lbs. I think the worry of lift would be during the initial descent, or more likely, at the top of the second hill. Thus, I am sure, the reason for the netting. I do not know how much the raft slows down do to hitting water at the bottom of the 1st hill. The article says the "raft slows a bit before a blast of water propels" it over the second hill. If significant enough, a sudden raft slowdown could result in an unsecured rider being "thrown" in front of the raft and either subject to the water blast or having the raft thrust over them. The description of "slows a bit" is hard to interpret. Flying out at the top of the second hill could still result in hitting the framework structure of the netting system. I don't think a gap would be necessary for a catastrophic result .
You are actually right. I stand corrected. I literally edited my original comment right at the same time you posted this. A report from the scene seems to show damage to some netting on the second hump of the ride. Your knowledge of physics was spot on.
Agreed. That is why I am having a hard time believing they have the cage there to keep the raft from flying off the slide but it doesn't appear there is anything on the raft to protect the riders in the event they were to make contact with that cage. Obviously, the most likely part of a person to hit first is the head/face in that case. I am no engineer but it would seem to me a bar rising from the front of the raft that spans the length and connects to the back of the raft (think of the shape of a clothes iron) would at least offer some protection upon contact. Or extend the backs on the seats higher. Something. Anything. The way it appears to be designed currently, the first thing (sadly) that would seem to hit is the head/face of one of the riders :(
There was a lot of blood. Don't go to the gory side of reddit.
There was a tweet from someonei n the park that used the term. Decapitated.
I think I read (either an article or upthread) that there is no age restriction. There was one at an earlier time, but it had already been removed well before this incident.
Not that I have seen. From a piece linked above:
I do not know the details but if what you are saying is true and I'm sure it is...this boy was riding with 2 other people down the slide so there are a minimum of 2 others suffering PTSD of the worst kind today, I can't imagine.Not that I have seen. From a piece linked above:
"Three riders are weighted together on a scale, and combined must be between 400 and 550 lbs. Riders must be at least 54-inches tall, and while previously the park had instituted an age minimum of 14 years, they've since removed it, saying the height requirement is sufficient."
Sounds like the people running the ride have to do kind of an ad hoc engineering job each time they run it. Have to find 3 people who (combined) fit the weight requirements and then (I would think) load them strategically in the raft for optimal performance/safety. Gotta be some training involved.
Lets say dad (225lbs) and mom (125) and son (75) want to ride together. They fall in range (425lbs) but how do you load them? Heaviest in middle seat? Too much weight in back and the front can lift and the thing can take off like a plane. Too much weight in front and the ### end can lift up.
Obviously age would be on the parents. Height and weight on the ride operators.
No. It's a roller coaster. It's a roller coaster that is not attached to any track at all.culdeus said:
The net at that speed would kill someone. Yes they won't flyout, but they will get 9th degree rope burns. The owner is an idiot.
