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RIP - how sad this young man was just starting his life.
There is noise like metal snapping right before the chair unit the guy was in falls. Wonder if it hit something on the ground?
Or if it was just the sound of it breaking off like metal fatigue.
One of the witnesses said it came too low to the ground on the first pass and then on the second pass ~ it hit something near the ground - so I don't know.
Pretty much. I'll do the Merry-Go-Rounds and stuff, but those things flying up in the air and twirling around at high rates of speed are a major no-no for me. I'll stick to theme/amusement parks for that, where equipment is properly bolted down and needs to be completely disassembled (not folded) if it needs to be moved.
My county fair has a ride where a bunch of chairs are suspended from a tall circular ceiling by chains. As the ceiling spins, the centrifugal force swings the chairs outward at what appears to be well over a 45 degree angle. This particular ride is situated at the edge of the fairgrounds, right next to an interstate highway. Years ago, I took a ride on it, and I kept looking up and imagining the bolts that held the chains to my chair snapping off and sending me flying onto the interstate. I wondered if I would survive the impact, and if so, would the traffic be able to swerve out of my way before hitting me.
The thing that worries me about these rides is you put a lot of trust into the people that are responsible for maintaining them. At least with major amusement parks like Busch Gardens Williamsburg they probably have people with high salaries that have the responsibility of making sure the stuff is done correctly. But when you think about these relatively small time fairs how much do these people really make?
My county fair has a ride where a bunch of chairs are suspended from a tall circular ceiling by chains. As the ceiling spins, the centrifugal force swings the chairs outward at what appears to be well over a 45 degree angle. This particular ride is situated at the edge of the fairgrounds, right next to an interstate highway. Years ago, I took a ride on it, and I kept looking up and imagining the bolts that held the chains to my chair snapping off and sending me flying onto the interstate. I wondered if I would survive the impact, and if so, would the traffic be able to swerve out of my way before hitting me.
I've never gone on that ride again.
I rode one of those at a major amusement park and I kept thinking the same thing! Well -not the interstate thing but the chair snapping off thing.
I wont ride a carnival ride either, but by your logic you wont even board an airplane, or boat to go on a vacation because its man made, and if it breaks you are likely going to die.
Probably my fault, but you missed my point. I have a very good understanding of the various levels of risk we face with all of our man-made machines. I have no problem accepting those risks in every day life. But I'm just not interested enough in excitement or an adrenalin rush for purely entertainment purposes to take the even miniscule risk involved in an amusement park ride. It's just not that important to me.
I don't criticize anyone for their pursuit of what they enjoy. But if the worst happens and they lose their life, then they have sacrificed themselves for entertainment. Just doesn't seem to me to be a good reason to die.
Comparing getting on an amusement ride to driving a car, getting in a boat, or on an airplane isn't a valid comparison IMO. Amusement rides are specifically to make you feel as though you are in danger to maximize the excitement level, and if they didn't you wouldn't pay to ride them. You can't say the same about most cars, boats, passenger jets, etc..
Millions of people ride these carnival rides every year.
Accidents on them causing death or serious injury are so rare they make national news.
A person controlled by emotion reads the news and decides they will never ride on them because they are horribly dangerous. The emotional person misses out on all of the fun.
A rational person uses reason and determines that the chance of being killed or badly injured on them is so close to zero it might as well be zero. The rational person gets on the ride and has a thrilling great time.
looks like something out of a Final Destination movie. Jesus
and my friends still pressure me to go on rides
When I was young and fearless, we loved to ride the rides at the state fair. I watched one fall apart one time and that was the end of my carnival rides.
It really looks like it struck the platform and broke off. I've been on a Claw type ride at the Big E once. It was fun but I recall the platform you use to get in your seat actually drops down before the ride begins. It looks here like it either never was retracted or was put up even higher or in some kind of service mode. Totally spitballing on this until we know more but I would hope there was a lockout on the platform when the ride was in motion.
The state of Ohio finished the investigation on this.
The gondola holding four people broke off on the downswing and hit the supporting structure of the ride.
No criminal charges will be filed. They indicated rust and metal fatigue. The operators of the ride were found to be at no fault. I am sure the civil lawsuits pending will shed more light on how this was allowed to happen. I hope the families of the dead and injured get to the bottom of this and that it does not happen again. There is some interesting info in the report, especially where the ride operators are not really trained and get "on the job" training the same day they are setting up and operating the ride. I think we might need some national oversight on these types of devises.
The accident report and final investigation from the state of Ohio can be seen here in the link below. I find the report to be a bit lacking, but I am not a detective. I assume the lawyers for all involved will dig much deeper to find out why this happened than the state police did.
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