Can you imagine this?

The other day, I was standing in line for the front seat of the TTD (extra 45 mins or so). Of course, while in line, it shut down. So I was mad because if I didnt wait for the front, I would have laready been on...anyways...there was one train in pre-stage and 3 others being loaded. They unloaded the 3, but the train out in pre-stage was stuck. So a bunch of people started walking out to that building they have out there, and were in there for like 15 mins. So the people on the train are sitting there talking to each other and waving and all that, then all of a sudden, theres this high pitched whine and the train takes off! 120 mph with no warning! I figured someone had to know, but the people on the train didnt! It made it over, but some people were pretty shaken up. By the way...the front is sooooo much better!

Well I can guaranteee you the train did not take off from the pre-stage area. They would have to be moved up to the launch area. I sure they noticed they were moving from pre-stage to launch.. Then most people by now know the fins drop about 3 seconds before the launch and most would notice the train moving back a little before launching.

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Steve Sergent
MF count: 249
TTD: 13

pre-stage being the spot right behind the x-mas tree lights, where the train launches, and yes on the 3 secs.....but is that enough?

Launched from the prestage!! Ha.. I do't think so Tony. I think your confused..The prestage is not where the christmas tree is..Thats the launch. Prestage is the area behind that where the next train awaits.

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http://www.msu.edu/~armbrus9/cp.html
Will this kid ever sleep through the night?!?

It had to be on the launch.. the kicker wheels just can't do it! hehe.. anyway.. I must say that i have seen it launch with no warning one time myself.. The fins dropped for about 20 seconds or so and then the sound effects shut off.. the riders thought they were stuck and then the lights dropped down and it went.. with no sound or "warning" .. it was kinda weird.. I even saw a ride ops face get a little "wow" in it.. hehe..

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TTD rides =14
Time spent waiting for those rides= 37.5 hours.
*** This post was edited by coasterguy76 8/13/2003 4:48:49 PM ***

Those are some fast spinnin kicker wheels ;)

They had to have stopped at the launch, and when you do usually an employee will walk out and tell you that "THEY MAY LAUNCH YOU WITHOUT WARNING" and if no-one went out that means the sled DID NOT connect to the train.

and i dont know... but if i was sitting there, and the train slightly inched backwards 6 inches... i'd think that we hit the sled... and we were launching in about 5 secs.... but hey ya know thats just me ;)

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TTD: 4 (Rollbacks seen: 24)
MF: 18
WT: 8
"C'mon, get off the rails guys, listen to the guy with the Disaster Transport uniform on!"

I've actually witnessed what Tony is describing. I was in the station waiting for the front of the back 2nd train. The train pulls into the launch position, all the sound effects are working, everything looks to be working, and this it all suddenly shuts off.

Everyone in the station groaned, after just a few minutes, out of nowhere the lights kick on, and they are gone! Everyone in the station gave shocked looks to the people standing beside them. That would have been one of the craziest rides ever.

That's a step above just not having the launch lights working in May. At least then they had the sound effects to give you the general time of the launch.

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...and the most anticipated event of summer 2003 is...

The Matrix: Reloaded!

The anticipation without the lights on opening day was NUTS! :)

Pretty simple- a blocking error caused it. We get it every once and awhile on Xcelerator as well. When the PLC senses a blockign error (2 or more trains occupying a single block) it stops all processes on the ride. IF this just so happens to occur after the brakes drop, the brakes will remain down until the blocks have been reset. Once the blocks are reset, the ride returns to normal operation and picks up where it left off, meaning it launches the train as soon as it senses the block ahead of the launch is clear.

From the way I saw them operating the ride when I went in May, it seems like they have ALOT of blocking issues, they were resetting blocks CONSTANTLY (thats why it goes down for 10-15 mins). The funny thing is, on most rides a blocking error is sufficient enough to cause tremendous downtime (the PLC freaks out), or at least thats what I've seen when operating coasters at KBF. Im assuming Xcel and Drag have a similar ride control system, and they seem to operate under the oddest conditions without failure (xcel runs with the RTL flashing ALL the time).

I don't know why Xcel or TTD were designed to be so easily recoverable in a blocking error, since it's a MAJOR issue on launched coasters.
*** This post was edited by Josh B 8/23/2003 8:07:29 PM ***

I doubt that very much. If the brakes don't return back to the upright position and there's a rollback, I think you know what happens next.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Heres how it works-

Launch cycle begins exactly 8 seconds prior to train launch, the launch/brake PLC takes over just before launch.

8 seconds- launch cycle begins (interuptable)

6 seconds- drive wheel drops, train rolls back (interuptable)

5 seconds- brakes drop (interuptable)

3 seconds- launch cycle handed over to seperate, independant PLC (uninteruptable after that point)

And about the brakes being stuck down, the train cannot launch if theres a blocking error, even when theyre down. The independant PLC controls the launch brakes, and therefore will ALWAYS cut power to them if anything fails while it's in control (during the launch cycle). All blocking has been cleared before the launch/brake PLC takes over, so in reality, there'd be no possible way to do what you're describing.

The independant PLC has nothing to do with blocking, it controls the brakes and launch, nothing more. If there were a blockign error after the brakes dropped, they'd sit there because the launch cycle would never "truely" begin and the PLC would keep the brakes down until after the train launches. Thats also the reason why TTD eraticly pops the brakes up and down when theres a train out on the launch track during a breakdown, its cought between the handoff from the main PLC attempting to abort the launch/throw the brakes up and the launch PLC telling the brakes to remain down.

Theres almost no way for the ride to stop once the actual launch PLC takes over, something pretty bad would need to happen (misallignment on Xcel happens every ocne and awhile), but the majority of the time when TTD or Xcel go down, it's not during the actual launch cycle, it's between those 8 and 3 seconds before the launch I described.
*** This post was edited by Josh B 8/24/2003 4:00:27 AM ***

If the train was there for 15 minutes, and they probably completely disregarded that they were on the ride, talking and waving to each other, and not paying attention, and they probably felt the train go backwards..then..gone with the wind.. and had virtually no warning. This could've been a terrible accident, but thank god it wasnt.
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LaUnCh...420 feet, 120 mph, 4 seconds....brakes...breathe

I have seen similiar events to this as well, and the brakes still drop, but its just that not everyone knows that THAT is the sign for a launch.... so people like me/us all knew what was about to happen, but not everyone was paying attention, or knew what was happening.

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Playa21 said:
This could've been a terrible accident, but thank god it wasnt.

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How do you figure that? Riders need no launch warning for the ride to function properly.

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I'd rather be in my boat with a drink on the rocks,
than in the drink with a boat on the rocks.

NO! I was told by several ride operators that the ride can not be stopped after the train rollsback a few inches. I was told that that sequence was the "point of no return" and once it rollsback, the launch sequence cannot be stopped... Actually 4 seperate ride ops told me that... reliable sources :)

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TTD: 6 (Rollbacks seen: 24)
MF: 20
WT: 9
"C'mon, get off the rails guys, listen to the guy with the Disaster Transport uniform on!"
--------
"Hey gals how ya lookin'?"
"Soooo Good!"
"Ooookay! I, I mean Sooo Good!"

Those ops are wrong, it can be aborted up until 3 seconds before the train is launched... It rolls back approx 6 seconds to engage the dog. But after those 3 seconds, yeah an independant system (or PLC as I described above) takes over and does it's thing.