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Icon Park - Drop Tower Accident 24/03/2022

I didn’t think it would be long before we saw currently installed attractions retrofitted - in fact, I would be shocked if these were not added, as they have no choice but to be proactive.
 
Inside Edition mentioned that the ride in the US has no maximum weight limit while in Europe it has. The teen was about 40 pounds heavier than the maximum weight limit and had been denied to ride 2 other attractions that night.


Also maybe ICON park choose to allow a bigger restraint opening to allow bigger riders to ride. That's what Hansa Park are hinting at.

I don't get what those investigators are doing in that video. If the investigator moves his back side a bit forward he will probably be able to get out at that open position.
 
I don't think this has been mentioned before on this thread but there's a website selling the Funtime 'Skyfall" drop tower (a very similar model/the same model depending on how you consider it) states that the maximum height is 1.9m or 6ft 2.

Skyfall | rideentertainment.com

rideentertainment.com rideentertainment.com
 
ChristianPalsson said:
Inside Edition mentioned that the ride in the US has no maximum weight limit while in Europe it has. The teen was about 40 pounds heavier than the maximum weight limit and had been denied to ride 2 other attractions that night.


Also maybe ICON park choose to allow a bigger restraint opening to allow bigger riders to ride. That's what Hansa Park are hinting at.

I don't get what those investigators are doing in that video. If the investigator moves his back side a bit forward he will probably be able to get out at that open position.
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The ride ‘has’ a maximum weight limit, their reporting is incorrect. The manufacturers manual for this exact ride has been published by the state investigators. I’ve read it, and posted exerts above, It states 130kg

Edit: The article Tpose just posted confirms what I’ve just said. It also corrected the boys weight, and it now appears he was 100lb over the weight limit, and his coach quoted the wrong weight. Either way, 40 or 100, both are big amounts.

ChristianPalsson said:
I don't get what those investigators are doing in that video. If the investigator moves his back side a bit forward he will probably be able to get out at that open position.
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That’s the point, they’re clearly measuring the biting point, the point at which the ride indicates a safely locked position. That point is clearly too high.

Whether that’s a mechanical fault, lack of maintenance, or possibly even, as is now being suggested, due to alterations made by the owners… It shouldn’t be that high!
 
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SilverArrow said:
Some pretty shocking information in this update here. (See the linked documents.)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1516112567059595275

Specifically these two pages.
View attachment 17317
View attachment 17321
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Not surprised at all...

Nicky Borrill said:
Whether that’s a mechanical fault, lack of maintenance, or possibly even, as is now being suggested, due to alterations made by the owners… It shouldn’t be that high!
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I heard this rumour on YouTube a while back, and it made absolute sense.

We knew that the ride wouldn't have started without the seat indicating it was in a locked position, and that the ride ops checked for the green light as trained. We also know that they were measuring the gap as part of the investigation. It had to be the case that, through either dodgy maintenance, or a dangerous modification, the sensors were indicating a locked position when the harness was actually not in a safe position.

So the maintenance team for the Sling Shot Group have completely ignored the ride safety manual, and expanded the restraint to allow larger guests. Despite the section of the manual, that I posted earlier, instructing them to measure the gap every 15 days to ensure it isn't too wide... Shocking and saddening.

How many more people have to die before park owners / maintenance teams stop making untested modifications to rides outside of the guidance of the ride's manufacturers / designers???

Presumably the ride ops / hosts did nothing 'wrong' then, in that they did as they were trained to do, to their knowledge that seat had been altered / was designed to take bigger guests! The park's management / maintenance teams are entirely to blame.
 
Proof right there the ride has been modified without permission, leading to the incident. Whoever authorized the modification AND whoever carried out the modification are both to blame.

As @davidm has pointed out, glad it can't be blamed as ride op error when it is so blatently a management and/or maintenance error.
 
davidm said:
Criminal.

Glad that its not going to be pinned on the ride-ops but on the owner/operators, may they rot in jail.
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It's not necessarily pinned on the owner/operator yet though. Funtime is going to have to prove that nobody associated with them made the adjustment. I doubt they did, but they still need to prove it. Furthermore, it's concerning that 1) it was possible to adjust the prox sensor placement, and 2) that the restraint was still able to open an additional 3" just by applying 250 lbs of force.
 
Indy said:
It's not necessarily pinned on the owner/operator yet though. Funtime is going to have to prove that nobody associated with them made the adjustment. I doubt they did, but they still need to prove it. Furthermore, it's concerning that 1) it was possible to adjust the prox sensor placement, and 2) that the restraint was still able to open an additional 3" just by applying 250 lbs of force.
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I know I've mentioned this a couple of times already, but not only is it possible to adjust it, but it seems it's also prone to variations on it's own, hence the 15 day test regime.

For anybody that wants to read the full report...

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com
 
Incredible negligence and pure insanity. It was only a matter of time before someone died from the moment this modification was made.
 
It seems like they had dedicated "fat seats" on the ride which had been modified. The ride ops must have known that they should place their bigger guests in these specific seats. That should trigger some red flags. Just looking at Tyre in his seat looks dangerous, regardless off manuals and training that can be noticed. The ride ops who are trained should have reported this immediately, if the manager didn't care then go to the authorities.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
How many more people have to die before park owners / maintenance teams stop making untested modifications to rides outside of the guidance of the ride's manufacturers / designers???
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Reminds me a bit of that time that a roller coaster passed its annual certification and had a years-long, mechanically safe track record (barring a death that was determined to be 100% on the rider). The park owner decided that the ride was safe enough and removed the seatbelts. Then a woman flies out and dies, and the rest is history as we know it.
 
ChristianPalsson said:
It seems like they had dedicated "fat seats" on the ride which had been modified. The ride ops must have known that they should place their bigger guests in these specific seats. That should trigger some red flags. Just looking at Tyre in his seat looks dangerous, regardless off manuals and training that can be noticed. The ride ops who are trained should have reported this immediately, if the manager didn't care then go to the authorities.
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Ride ops are generally young people. If they’re trained that those 2 seats were for larger guests, and the ‘safety lights’ also indicate that the restraint is safe, why on Earth would they have any reason to disbelieve that?
 
ChristianPalsson said:
The ride ops must have known that they should place their bigger guests in these specific seats. That should trigger some red flags.
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I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding you here, but I don't think this should trigger any red flags? Plenty of rides have seats which are suited towards bigger guests (some B&Ms for example, which will have two seatbelts rather than one in certain). For this to have one isn't really abnormal, it should just be something to allow as many people as possible to safely ride.

ChristianPalsson said:
Just looking at Tyre in his seat looks dangerous, regardless off manuals and training that can be noticed. The ride ops who are trained should have reported this immediately, if the manager didn't care then go to the authorities.
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I see what you're saying here, and looking at the restraint (especially with hindsight), does raise some concerns. But what should be remembered is that ride staff should have a degree of confidence in the ride; if you're checking a restraint and the system says it's locked, you shouldn't have to really question that. And if you don't have 100% faith there, you should have the faith that management and engineers will look into things and ensure everything is safe.

As someone who's worked on rides, never in a million years would the thought come in my head that a restraint system has been altered by the park without the manufacturer's consent. If a restraint was saying it was locked and the guest was comfortable, I would totally put my faith in ride.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
Ride ops are generally young people. If they’re trained that those 2 seats were for larger guests, and the ‘safety lights’ also indicate that the restraint is safe, why on Earth would they have any reason to disbelieve that?
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I did a test with one of my friends who is not an enthusiast and had no knowledge of the accident. I showed the image of Tyre sitting in his seat and asked if he sees anything unusual. He noticed that Tyre does not look properly restrained. A professional and trained operator should also have been able to spot it.

I don't mean to place the blame on the ride ops but as a last line against the management's stupidity they should probably have noticed something looking unsafe. Isn't that what the final visual check is for? Looking for anything that looks unsafe?
 
ChristianPalsson said:
I did a test with one of my friends who is not an enthusiast and had no knowledge of the accident. I showed the image of Tyre sitting in his seat and asked if he sees anything unusual. He noticed that Tyre does not look properly restrained. A professional and trained operator should also have been able to spot it.

I don't mean to place the blame on the ride ops but as a last line against the management's stupidity they should probably have noticed something looking unsafe. Isn't that what the final visual check is for? Looking for anything that looks unsafe?
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Yes but did you explicitly tell your friend that this restraint was now specifically for larger guests before asking him that?

🙈
 
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