Corkscrew Incident

I demand to see the police reports.

Anything falling from a coaster thst crosses a midway is a huge danger. Period.

It is weird how flippant everyone is about this stuff

Amusement rides are machines. Machines break, and, in the case of amusement machines especially, are designed in a way to mitigate consequences of a given failure. Obviously some manufacturers are worse than others at this (looking at you, Intamin), but the fact that a piece of polymer tread fell off a wheel and the consequence was that it made for a neat picture is a testament to good design in this case.

It's not being flippant, it's having an understanding of what happened and why it's not a big deal.

I struggle with the approach that saying this is OK with the reasoning that wheel pieces come off all of the time, but since they have not hit anyone it is not a problem.

If that piece of rubber hit someone in the head would there be a different reaction?

If that piece of rubber came off of an Intamin coaster would there be a different reaction?

If that piece of metal that came off of Dragster simply landed in an empty area of the queue would there have been a less severe reaction?

I agree with dj, these are machines and its not a matter of if it will happen it's a matter of when it will happen. I'm sure there would be a different reaction if someone got hurt, what if what happened on TTD didn't hit anyone and went into an area that no one would have even known that piece came off? Would we even be talking about a reimagined TTD? Would it have ever closed and would we still be dealing with the temperamental TTD we all know? Who knows.

Let's not forget what happened a few years back with Skyhawk.

Let's just all be thankful no one got hurt with this latest incident.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that it's OK, but there's reason for caution and follow-up, and there's reason for panic. This is not the latter. The ride has operated as is for more than four decades, cycling millions of times with probably thousands of wheels.

So what I imagine will happen is that they'll give their existing stock of wheels an extra special review, contact their parts supplier and review what they're doing to identify quality control problems and make sure their general liability insurance is adequate. Everyone will go on with their lives and think, "That was a close one, but we're responding appropriately."

Shades:

If that piece of rubber hit someone in the head would there be a different reaction?

Given the speed at which Corkscrew traverses the midway there, I don't think so.

If that piece of rubber came off of an Intamin coaster would there be a different reaction?

Corkscrew is sort of unique given it travels very close to the midway without awnings between it and the midway. I can't think of any other coasters in the park that are similar in that regard, so I think CS is a special case, and again, because it's not going very fast or very high, the risk is rather low.

Also, what Jeff said. I'm not saying "it's OK," just that it's not the big deal some are trying to make it out to be.

djDaemon:

I'm not saying "it's OK," just that it's not the big deal some are trying to make it out to be.

Then we are on the same page.

I do wonder if adding some sort of canopy under where the ride directly passes over-head may be in the works also. This is one of the last rides with this sort of interaction with the midway...

One of the last rides? There’s a relatively new one down in Orlando that goes directly over a walkway…

I meant at CP

Tron also has netting under the ride where it goes over walking paths to catch loose items that fall off. I'm not sure how well it'd stop a wheel that flies off but they've thought of some means of protection.

Considering this wasn’t a whole wheel that fell off, and it was a relatively thin strip of urethane in comparison, I’d say it would get caught in a net.

Dragster shed a few of these next to the launch track a few times and enthusiasts used to keep them a souvenirs.

And the net doesn't necessarily need to catch (as in capture) anything, just slow it down and/or redirect it.

I awaken from a deep slumber

A poly wheel blew...it happens. Corkscrew sure it's a rarity at a 48mph ride, but it has happened.

The risk is the midway exposure but...thankfully it's a non issue.

Slow news day, we keep popping pedals. Good day y'all.

Corkscrew needs to go. No sense of keeping a ride just for numbers. You can replace it with a similar over the midway ride that is actually worth riding. Hell just retrack the thing, maybe add an extra element or 2.

I didn't realize they were keeping it for 'numbers.' I also didn't realize it wasn't worth riding.

If you don’t like Corkscrew then maybe don’t ride Corkscrew? Plenty of people ride it, I’ve seen them.

3 years ago it was my youngest daughter's favorite ride in the park. Conquering it was a huge deal. Judging by the lines I typically see this is not an unusual phenomenon. It is what it is, takes up a minimum footprint, and is certainly near the top of the "iconic" totem pole with regards to the park.

Let it be.

I unfortunately read some of the comments under the Sandusky Register's Facebook post regarding this.