Incident on Worlds Tallest and Fasters Coaster Again!

[Galvan]

Numerous website reports say that Kingda Ka had a major incident last night.


Reports from Coasterbuzz say that the ride was launched, a loud bang was heard and sparks came shooting out of the train.

Here is the link from coasterbuzz
http://coasterbuzz.com/forum.aspx?mode= ... icID=44556

[rct2wizard360]

As stated on Coasterbuzz, Six Flags has labled the ride "Temporarily Closed" on their website.

This thing should just really be worked on for a whole season.
I mean Jesus, I don't want this to happen when people are on board.

Intamin for the win!

*EDIT: I checked out Gadv.com, apparantley as the train was ascending, the brake fins DID NOT GO UP. As most of you know, those fins are what prevent the train from flying back into the station in the case of a rollback.

With that being said, I think this is a lot more serious than a cable snap, and probably has something to do with the catchcar also. I can prove myself very easily here.

That is the spot where the catchcar stops, and should stop well before that. Now imagine a catchcar moving at 128mph, and hitting that at full speed. It would cause a pretty big bang now wouldn't it?

The blue sparks may have come from the train running over what would have been a pretty mangled catchcar.

This could mean the rest of the season for Ka.

[FRD714]

Wow....its going to be awhile.

[rct2wizard360]

*Edited my first post with new info.

[Galvan]

Definately not great news for my group thats planning a major East Coast Trip this coming June.

[rct2wizard360]

More speculation coming in from GAdv.com...

There were many accounts of a riders phone falling out of his pocket on the launch segment.

This may play a key role in the brake fins.
The phone may have hit one of the sensors as it was flying out, causing the sensor to not trigger the brake fins.

This may not have anything to do with it considering I have no exact time on when the phone was lost, on what cycle of the day.

[Galvan]

If it was a cell phone on the launch platform, that will explain a few things:

First, The reason why the train cleared the tower after it was launched

Second, The reason why the brakes did not go up was the cell phone jammed in that specific section.

Third, The cause for the sparks was the emergancy brakes either operated by the computer or by the ride op when there a noticible obstruction in the launch area, Think about V2 when a hat or something falls on the concrete platform, its almost like an e-stop.


I dont know anything about rollercoasters, but i do have common sense and that usually is the best answer for everything.

[rct2wizard360]

More to the fate about Ka...

Shapiro came into this position hating KK.
Now he's gunna hate it even more.

Basically to sum it up...
Kingda Ka came within 0.001 MPH of killing and being removed leaving SFGAdv with the biggest attendance drop ever.

I really hope we'll get the deal on this soon.

I almost feel obligated not to ride drop anymore.

So much for "failsafe."

[CoasterDave316]

Here's what I know.

Nobody has a clue what happened. Besides the sparks, and the ride closing down last night.

Everything else is just pure speculation, with no basis on any facts.

I just hope whatever is broken is fixed by June.

[rct2wizard360]

I just hope this thing dosen't kill anyone.

[Galvan]

More to the fate about Ka...

Shapiro came into this position hating KK.
Now he's gunna hate it even more.

Basically to sum it up...
Kingda Ka came within 0.001 MPH of killing and being removed leaving SFGAdv with the biggest attendance drop ever.

I really hope we'll get the deal on this soon.

I almost feel obligated not to ride drop anymore.

So much for "failsafe."

That post made zero sense to me, care to elborate?

As for them Killing KK, hold on a second, this ride cost well over 30 million to build and construct, With SF pinching pennies there is a better chance of cold fronts in hell then SF taking the ride down. Not to mention the negitive publicity of them removing "THE WORLDS TALLEST AND FASTEST" TTD wasnt removed and its had several issues associated with the ride.

The big problem here is Intamin, This is yet another of a series of incidents with this company. California Screamin', TTD, S:ROS, The Drop Zone Towers, Perlious Plunge the list is as long as my arm.

Intamin needs to get there act together, and soon, because this is insanity. All these incidents with this company. Pretty soon, the Federal Government will start to look at these people very closely, OSHA especially doesnt fool around with these things.

[FRD714]

^Great post. I agree with you 100%.

[EagleFan344]

Im just glad I got on it 5 times in a day when I went!

[CoasterDude12-2]

I'm glad I was able to ride it period. But I don't plan on ever riding it again.

[rct2wizard360]

Basically what I was saying.

Shapiro was never a big fan of Ka. The fact that this happens just takes the cake.

Other point,
If you have the "World's Tallest and Fastest" have the worlds worst rollercoaster accident, I really don't think it has the PR to stay open.

I'm still very frightened that those brakes did not go up.
Just thinking of what could have happened...

[Aero737]

If a train of people on the ride were killed (which it sounds like an accident of this magnitude had the possibility to do if certain things went really wrong) then that ride would be out of there. 30 million is what the ride cost, sell it back as scrap to pay the billions of dollars you are going to lose in lawsuits.

RCT has right picture, kill people on your ride and nobody will go.

An incident of this magnitude would cause a HUGE shockwave through the entire amusement industry, possibly halting all amusement rides for a certain period of time while redundant safety systems are built in.

[FParker185]

More to the fate about Ka...

Shapiro came into this position hating KK.
Now he's gunna hate it even more.

Basically to sum it up...
Kingda Ka came within 0.001 MPH of killing and being removed leaving SFGAdv with the biggest attendance drop ever.

I really hope we'll get the deal on this soon.

I almost feel obligated not to ride drop anymore.

So much for "failsafe."

That post made zero sense to me, care to elborate?

As for them Killing KK, hold on a second, this ride cost well over 30 million to build and construct, With SF pinching pennies there is a better chance of cold fronts in hell then SF taking the ride down. Not to mention the negitive publicity of them removing "THE WORLDS TALLEST AND FASTEST" TTD wasnt removed and its had several issues associated with the ride.

The big problem here is Intamin, This is yet another of a series of incidents with this company. California Screamin', TTD, S:ROS, The Drop Zone Towers, Perlious Plunge the list is as long as my arm.

Intamin needs to get there act together, and soon, because this is insanity. All these incidents with this company. Pretty soon, the Federal Government will start to look at these people very closely, OSHA especially doesnt fool around with these things.

The list only as long as your arm? Must have incredibly long arms

I'll add to the list....

SFNE Superman Brake Failure, Lift Chain breaking at least twice it's opening year before SF went shopping for a new lift chain, and the guy being ejected from the ride and dying
SFA-Major structural work within a year of opening and lift chain breakage early on as well.
SFDL Superman- Rider Ejected but didnt die.
Hydro- Rider Ejected and died
AquaCoaster in Korea- Rider Ejection with death (though alcohol played a part)
Electrictial issues on most of their rides, to many to name (with our V2 leading the bunch)
Millennium Force needing to have chunks taken out of several supports due to clearance issues. Though I honestly cant think of one coaster they've built (in a country where info comes though in the english lanugage), where major structural issues havent come up and had to be fixed after a short time of operation exept possibly the rockets, but give them time, they are new.
Most of their coasters unable to open on time.


And I'll throw it in anways since I enjoy this quote, but every time someone flies off an Intamin ride Sandor Kernacs comes forth to point out that if they had been holding on to the handle bar the deceased person would not have flown out.

Also while I listed notable Lift Chain snaps, I do have to bring up Chang's Lift chain breaking on Media Day, so that is not an isolated issue with just Intamin, after all Chang is the sound a lift chain makes when it breaks

[SFaddiction84]

break fins not coming UP, dont cause sparks!!! How would something NOT MOVING cause sparks, its just dont make sense.. Now take a cell phone and smash it with a hammer, it sparks!! or say the cell phone dropped into the launch area during the LAST LAUNCH!!! IN the path of the catch car, the catch car HITS IT. if the phone is lodged its gonna be pulversized when the catch car hits it and the catch car is most def gonna be F'ed Up (possible explination of sparks)

im not an expert or wasnt there, but thats my theory!!

[DejaVuGurl1203]

^ Trust me, these people know what they are talking about. Like someone said earlier this is mostly speculation, so it may not have been the brake fins causing the sparks. There's many possibilities.

[rct2wizard360]

We have a photo update on the situation.

(Thanks goes to Stew560 over at GAdv.com)


As you can see, the cable is still tight, so that rules out a cable snapping.


The man in the middle seems to be holding what could be a brake fin.

We can officially rule out a cable snap.

***EDIT***

An article was posted over at Coasternet.
I don't know how reliable this source is though, considering this was the same site that told us about "Tidal Wave" a few years back.

Here's the article if anyone cares.
http://www.coaster-net.com/newsandrelea ... newsid=664

[Drkstarboard]

Hmmm. Well, as of right now, Top Thrill Dragster is offically the tallest and fastest coaster in the world.

Speaking of chains snapping (not the snapping entirley but the whole chain thing), I was on American Eagle yesterday (5/6/06) and when we were half way up the lift, it slowed down to about 2m.p.h (idk the exact speed) but it slowed down a lot. Now, American Eagle is an Intamin. Im sure that the whole problem was basically the the ride is 25 years old, but its kinda weird.

[rct2wizard360]

Hmmm. Well, as of right now, Top Thrill Dragster is offically the tallest and fastest coaster in the world.

Speaking of which, was it open this weekend?

[Drkstarboard]

Yes it was

[Director_Guy]

Hmmm. Well, as of right now, Top Thrill Dragster is offically the tallest and fastest coaster in the world.

Speaking of chains snapping (not the snapping entirley but the whole chain thing), I was on American Eagle yesterday (5/6/06) and when we were half way up the lift, it slowed down to about 2m.p.h (idk the exact speed) but it slowed down a lot. Now, American Eagle is an Intamin. Im sure that the whole problem was basically the the ride is 25 years old, but its kinda weird.

It does that alot more often than you'd think.

[Drkstarboard]

I thought it was because it's 25 years old. It doesn't help either that it broke down an hour before I rode it