#prayforSkyhawk

I thought it was one letter of a cartoon curse word ;)

Haven't noticed much discussion on this since the season began, but it looks like there has been structural work going on at Skyhawk the last few days. I was at the park Sunday and yesterday, and mechanics were working on the connection of the two halves of the spindle—for lack of a better term—just beneath the ride's name. From a distance, I'm fairly certain I saw some welding going there at one point. The difference yesterday was that a crane seemed to be providing support to the swing on the SRF side.

Later in the day, the crane and crew lifts were lowered, but still inside the ride area, and the area the crew appeared to be working on—the flange weld joints—looked freshly painted. Obviously, these are my haphazard conclusions drawn from distant observation, but would what appears to be a possible weld crack not have been observed during off-season non-destructive testing?

If I recall correctly, Skyhawk was operational on one side to start the season with both swings running as usual shortly afterward. Either that, or it was being tested that way.

That ride has been a colossal pain in the ass and its to bad because it's a great ride. My personal favorite flat. I hope someday they finally get it working consistently.

slehman said:

If I recall correctly, Skyhawk was operational on one side to start the season with both swings running as usual shortly afterward. Either that, or it was being tested that way.

I'm almost positive Skyhawk was running one side at opening. I noticed that they were doing work on it too and wondered what was going on.

Are you sure this is not an Intamin ride?

I'm surprised as simple and straightforward as S&S rides are that this thing has issues, but ah well.

Really high loads on a slightly underdesigned structure?

Mystical Matthew said:

slehman said:

If I recall correctly, Skyhawk was operational on one side to start the season with both swings running as usual shortly afterward. Either that, or it was being tested that way.

I'm almost positive Skyhawk was running one side at opening. I noticed that they were doing work on it too and wondered what was going on.

Skyhawk opened (on opening day) with both sides operating. As soon as I got off, the group after us loaded, and the crew had trouble with locking every seat on the right swing (because of large guests). After so many tries, they went down for mechanical reasons, and the right swing didn't open for the rest of the day.