News: Skyhawk back in business

http://www.pointbuzz.com/news.htm?id=899

Great to hear they got 'er up again so quickly. Hopefully whatever problem they had won't repeat itself. *knocks on wood*

Perhaps this has been discussed (many times) before, but what is their reasoning for not sharing the mechanical specifics of a ride breakdown?

They pretty much never release specifics about failures. Probably to prevent public hype (aka like rollercoaster tycoon when something malfunction and they dont ride it).

I also noticed that it seems there is 1 more 'full power' swing in there then there was on Media Day. There's a forward and backward swing, instead of just the 1 there seemed to be on Media Day.

Josh also thought so too, so it wasn't just my imagination.

^Yes I did. It seemed longer and a bit scarier.

I promised my girlfriend that it wasn't that bad and she HATED it. She was trying to find something to hold on to and screaming like her life depended on it. It was kind of funny to me, but I did feel bad for her.

Either way, it definitely seems like it's kicking way more ass than it was over the weekend.

-Josh

All of this is great news.

I wonder though, if the theory/rumor about a part that was thought to be sub-standard was true. It would make more sense now, given that they were sort of taking it easy on the ride for its introduction, as if they expected it to break and were trying to get as many rides out of it as possible. And, now that they have the new part, they can run at full steam.

I'm definitely glad to hear it's operating again!

Ridiculous load times...

I will not ride again until they get that fixed. I rode yesterday and I was 1 of about 15 riders and I was alone on one side during a cycle.

It took roughly 5 minutes to load, check and clear. Some larger folk had a lot of difficulty clasping their belts. I had to help a girl sitting next to me.

All this for 15 people.. I'm sure loading both arms instead of one did not help that cause at all..

:shakes head: *** Edited 5/14/2006 4:51:12 PM UTC by Coastern3rd***

The load times are a little long, but that's not what bothers me. Does anyone else find the seats/restraints to be very uncomfortable, or even painful? I find the lap restraint doesn't so much hold me by my lap as it does the lower portion of my sternum and upper rib cage. The three times I've rode have been quite painful.

I didn't think they were uncomfortable. But that's just me......I'm a small individual.:)

What gets me is the duration of the ride. I find it to be too short. 2 swings at full speed and it's done.

The seats seem okay to me and relatively accomodating compared to say an Intamin Ride. But I am in agreement about the carabiners being way awkward. It's difficult to get them on/off since they are too big for the spot they hook into. Maybe some smaller carabiners or a bigger "loop" would be good.

Also, I'm sure a good number of them will turn up "missing" since they can slide right off. Just wait until Coastermania. Looks like they might be using a new type of seatbelt on Magnum this year to prevent that. Good idea, but wouldn't be necessary if it weren't for losers who steal them in the first place. The least they could do is wait until the end of the night and not have to have the ride running with less than the mxx number of seats while they wait for more seatbelts to show up. I couldn't believe people did that in '04. How lame! :)

I'm also disappointed that they have assigned the ride such a small crew. There are two control booths and both are vacated (I assume they take a key out or something) when the restraints are being checked. Additionally, they are double checking every seat just like on Maxair. I still don't see the purpose of this. Someone who used to work Maxair tried to explain the logic of this to me. It is something like, "so a person sitting in a seat gets looked at a second time in case they decide they want to get off or something like that." It was kind of weak reasoning if you ask me. How about, if you don't want to ride, don't sit down in the seat. Works for me. If you are in the seat with your restraints down, you're gonna ride. How about that? :)

I dig the ride and I think it's a cool addition, but I'm certainly not going to wait 45 minutes or an hour for it when Magnum has a 10 minute wait. :)

Yeah, it's not the most comfortable, but its not too bad after riding a few times. I've gotten used to it.

Agreed about the wait times... 5 minutes to load/check/clear followed by a ride lasting less than a minute, not so much. There's an audible groan when they call to recheck all restraints. Plus, it's not running all that reliable yet. My brother was on it Saturday (actually strapped in) when they called a mechanical and pulled everyone off, and we were in line for it twice yesterday (got up to the front the first time) and they called a mechanical both times.

did they add seatbelts to the ride or something after it opened? i saw a comment about that in one of the project 2007 threads.

the load times on the tiny screamin' swing at dorney park are huge too. and there are only 8 people on that at a time. (if that!)

Matt,

They took care of the carabiner issue this weekend (i'm not actually sure which day) by putting a huge wad of electrical tape on either side of the strap, so it doesn't slide anymore. I noticed it when I went to clip it to the hook and it was even more awkward because it's pretty stiff, but at least they won't get stolen.

-Josh

There is a nylon strap and carabeaner (sp?) that attaches the handle on the lap bar to a metal loop positioned between each pair of seats. It is a pain to get buckled or unbuckled while you are sitting in the seat.

ok cool. that's what i thought. that's the identical restraint they have at dorney park. when i rode that one i was thinking that on a large scale, that would be ridiculous. looks like it is too!

i wonder why they didn't go with something similar to what they have on power tower. just a seatbelt that latches onto the restraint.

If you've seen the seats, you'd see why the seatbelt idea wouldn't really work. For a secondary restraint, this is (as far as I can tell) as good as it could get. The question really is "Is the secondary really necessary?"

JuggaLotus said:
The question really is "Is the secondary really necessary?"

Simply put... yes, yes it is. The people in front of me in line for SH were talking about how one of them was on maXair at some point (not entirely sure when) and the seat released and they were being held in by the belt. Not sure whether it was true or not, but on a ride like this where the consequences of the restraint failing completely would most likely be serious injury or death, a second, purely physical restraint with no moving parts is absolutely necessary. The primary restraint can be hardwired six ways from Sunday not to come loose but a short circuit or loose connection in the wrong place at the wrong time and that all goes away. I don't think I'd even get on a ride that's had so many mechanical issues without a secondary restraint, especially when many of those mechanical problems are supposedly due to restraint issues anyway. Do I think they could've done a better job with the restraint? Yes, absolutely. Maybe they could've done a side belt somewhat like WT or something, or made a PT-type belt work somehow. I don't know exactly what the solution is, but it definitely is necessary.
*** Edited 5/15/2006 8:00:33 PM UTC by JeffV***

Take Dragster as an example. Even without the belt, there would have to be such a catastrophic failure that the possibility of falling out drops into the .0000000000001% range. That same possibility of falling out exists on skyhawk. Just because there is an extra belt doesn't mean the chance of falling out doesn't exist. At the same time those restraints on MA "failed" the belt could have also given way. Just because the belt is there doesn't mean the chance is entirely gone.