Ride accident in Japan caught on tape

[CoasterDude12-2]

I'm actually going to be freaked to ride the Whirligig this season after the second video! I'm NEVER clicking on a link from this unless I know it won't freak me out

[LAFFfan4lyfe]

i can't imagine being there on a day when something like that would happen. i've never seen an ambulance come into any theme park to get guests who've been severely injured. I've seen some people tending to someone who was having trouble breathing or something like that at Raging Bull once, but nothing really bad, like death. It's just a scary thought that stuff like the falling of the swings happening.

[twixmix0303]

I'm sure Demon was difficult to get to when it was stuck in the loop. Southwest Territory was built at this point I think and I thought they used a fire engine to get assist people getting off.

[FRD714]

^Yea, how the heck did thy get people off Demon without letting anyone fall out?

[Galvan]

From what I understand, It took like 2 hours to remove all 24 passengers off Demon when it was stuck it the loop.

If im not mistaken, They used a cherry picker after firefighters took off the OTSRs.

There was a Dateline NBC special on this incident a few years back.

[FRD714]

I found a short video clip from the news on google a few months ago about Demon. I could post it if anyone is interested.

[CoasterDude12-2]

ok...post it.

[FRD714]

I have to find it so Ill be back in about 10-15 mins.

[coasterkid94]

take those videos off,moderator!!!! Those are so disturbing and are very sad for the families

[FRD714]

Nevermind, I cant find the video. It was small and not that good anyway.

[Gangsta Fruit 26]

How did Demon get stuck upside down? Why couldn't they just push the car so that it would roll down from the top of the loop? Then they could just get people down from ground level.

I saw on some site where it said that a girl died on Raging Bull because she chocked on her gum. That is sad but she was pretty dumb to chew gum on a Roller Coaster.

Some of you guys that are mad at RBull4Life for posting those vidoes, well, then you got problems. You shouldn't be mad at him. It's not like he said that they were cool. He just posted them so we could see them. Post some more.

[FRD714]

Demon got stuck becuase the axle broke and it wouldnt move.

[DejaVuGurl1203]

I saw on some site where it said that a girl died on Raging Bull because she chocked on her gum. That is sad but she was pretty dumb to chew gum on a Roller Coaster..

She didn't die from chewing gum. She had a heart problem. They found out like 6-8 months after it happened.

[Mikey Pop]

Actually, I saw the swing mishap on an episode of Real TV.

[CoasterDude12-2]

How did Demon get stuck upside down? Why couldn't they just push the car so that it would roll down from the top of the loop? Then they could just get people down from ground level.

The reason is becuase the emergency stop was in effect due to a loose axle on the back train. It would have de-railed if it had gone any farther, thus killing or seriously injuring each one in the train.

[twixmix0303]

You guys are all wrong. Arrow looping coasters have always had problems with the ties (the C-shaped bars that connect the two rails, they are placed about a foot apart). They were each welded on each side to the rail. In the case of getting stuck in the loop, several ties' welds had broken, causing the rail to flex outward. As the track became wider, the train wasn't wide enough to navigate it, and it got jammed. A mechanical safety mechanism in each wheel assembly activated, preventing the train from rolling backwards.

It had nothing to do with an e-stop. The train would have advanced to the block brakes after the tunnel if the ride was e-stopped.

[Gangsta Fruit 26]

^Dang that sucks. I didn't know. Thanks for telling me.

That would be scary to be next in line for Raging Bull when somebody comes back on a train into the station dead. I would be scared to go on.

It would also be extremely scary to be stuck upsidedown on Demon for hours. The best spot would be at the very back of the train because then your back seat would support you. Does anybody have any pictures of it.

[DejaVuGurl1203]

^ The front seat would be somewhat ok, you'd practically look straight down, but for guys it might not be so pleasant.

http://coastergallery.com/1999/SFGA09.html That's basically what it was like. Funny how it happened on my 8th birthday.

[Trailblazer Tony]

According to that website, it was a broken wheel assembly, not the welded ties that twixmix0303 mentioned.

[FParker185]

Final cause was determined to be a missing safety pin in a side friction wheel, which allowed the wheel to loosen and come off, causing the axle to hunt up with enough force to tear off, at which point the back car dropped between the rails and became lodged at the point of least momentum at that point of the ride.

[twixmix0303]

Okay, sorry about that. I should have said that's what I read on greatamericaparks.com. I just couldn't believe that coasterdude said it stopped there because it was e-stopped.

EDIT: I was curious about that article so I dug it up. http://www.greatamericaparks.com/forums ... 47&start=3

This was a problem in the corkscrews, not the clothoids. Oops!

[zjohn1988]

Roller coaster fails in Illinois; riders stranded upside down for hours
(Saturday, April 18, 1998) - At Six Flags Great America Theme Park in Gurnee, Illinois, 23 riders on the Demon roller coaster were left stranded upside-down after the train in which they were riding stopped in the middle of a vertical loop. Firefighters used a cherry picker to bring the passengers to safety. Some riders were stuck for nearly three hours. Four passengers were treated at local hospitals and released.
Investigators concluded that the accident was caused by mechanical failure. The accident happened when a wheel that runs along the inside of the track broke off from the axle of the last car after a nut loosened. The ride's safety systems engaged, preventing the train from derailing.

The park has installed a new safety mechanism to the trains.

In 1986, 3 people were killed when a similar malfunction on a roller coaster in Canada caused a coaster train to derail.

[Gangsta Fruit 26]

This year this motivational speaker named Reggie came to my school and there was an assembly for it. He was real funny and he said jokes. One joke he said was that he got stuck upside down on a loop before. I wonder if he was on demon. Probably not but that would be funny.

[FRD714]

Well how many coasters have gotten stuck in a loop?

I know of two. Demon and one in Conneticut called Zoomerang.

[Sedir]

Actually, I saw the swing mishap on an episode of Real TV.

I saw that too. They said that the kid that went flying into the air survived.

And for that drop thing, that physics teacher must have forgotten a lot of parts. Because I saw one of those drop towers get stuck halfway to the bottom before, but then it eventually slowly lowered. It didn't take that long either. (But then they stopped using that tower for the rest of the day.)