Sky Hawk

Doesn't matter how many times I ride Skyhawk (and we rode it A LOT this summer) it still gives me the heebie jeebies. I love the ride, and completely trust the restraint system, but those restraints start to seem awful small when you hit the apex of the swing.

Well, since I last posted I had the best Skyhawk weekend of my life.

This past weekend I rode it 25 times, 16 of which were right at closing. I'm omitting the dates so as not to get anyone in trouble. They let me stay on the ride for 16 consecutive cycles and each time only pushed my lap bar down one click (which is pretty much wide open. What an amazing ride experience. On full extension forward, you come out of the seat a ton. Going backward too, but forward is better. The ride operator looked at my lap bar and said "it sure is better that way isn't it?". I thanked him and he said "happy to accomodate a VIP like you" since I was wearing my CP VIP windbreaker.

Now I can already hear the hate you guys are going to spew but calm down. I'm here to tell you, there's no way you're coming out of that ride with the lap bar completely loose. At least not for my 5'11", 180 lb frame. It's just not possible. The z-harness would require removal of your legs in order to get you out. Really. If that wasn't the case the computer would never let the ride engage otherwise. There would have to be some sort of safety instead of just relying on an employee to push down "enough".

Now maybe a 52" kid who only weighs 80lbs is a different story, but that's not what we're talking about here.

Best night on Skyhawk. Ever.

16 times in a row?! Aye corumba!!

You must have molasses in your inner ear.

MagnumFan said:
This past weekend I rode it 25 times, 16 of which were right at closing. I'm omitting the dates so as not to get anyone in trouble. They let me stay on the ride for 16 consecutive cycles and each time only pushed my lap bar down one click (which is pretty much wide open.

I find it really absurd that one of the Cedar Point ride hosts would even let you do that. The hosts were pretty much disabling a safety feature. It would be one thing if they didn't push it down all the way but letting it up all the way is not acceptable. I really don't get why anyone would let a harness that is supposed to keep you in place be disabled. That is just as bad as taking a seat belt off for "more airtime" on a roller coaster.

coolkid said:
...letting it up all the way is not acceptable.

It wasn't.

...be disabled.

It wasn't.

That is just as bad as taking a seat belt off..

Or it's not remotely the same thing at all.

djDaemon said:

...be disabled.

It wasn't.

Doesn't that depend on the operating manual? If the lap bar is supposed to be securely positioned against the riders abdomen, then allowing it to be operated that far open, regardless of what the computer says, is bypassing a safety system.

And it's pretty obvious that MagnumFan knows what they were doing was wrong. Otherwise there would be no need to specifically state that he's omitting the date to "not get anyone in trouble"

Eh, so? There are a lot of things I do daily that could get me in trouble. That doesn't make those things inherently dangerous though. I'm not claiming the restraints used as described isn't dangerous, just that the operator potentially getting in trouble is a rather meaningless metric.

To me, a "disabled" restraint is one whose function as a safety mechanism is prohibited. That's obviously not the case here, as anyone who has been on Skyhawk could attest. One click on those restraints (even on my small 5'7" 170lb frame) eliminates the possibility of falling out of the seat.

So yeah, we could have a argument on the semantics, but that's not really the point here. I simply don't see why what was done was so terrible.

. What this person did was clearly a stupid stupid thing and whether or not the harness would have let him fall out is not the only thing that could have gone wrong. Its a blatant disregard for his safety and the safety of those around him. To disregard the entire picture and not just disregard the harness clearly shows a lack of intelligence or the lack of a will to survive for long on the planet.

You know, you can get a Darwin award for thinking this kind of behavior isn't a bad thing.

There's clearly a difference between a loose restraint (and still one that wouldn't let an intact body slip out) and a restraint that's been intentionally circumvented. Nothing discussed in this topic smacks me of the latter.

PrawoJazdy said:
...whether or not the harness would have let him fall out is not the only thing that could have gone wrong.

So, exactly what else could have gone wrong due to this action (aside from him falling out)?

I think you might be blowing this a tad out of proportion. He wasn't endangering those around him. He wasn't supporting Al Qaeda, either.

You know, you can get a Darwin award for thinking this kind of behavior isn't a bad thing.

That's categorically false.

Some of you guys need to relax, seriously. Sheesh!

I should clarify that this was all instigated by me. Namely, pushing my chest and stomach out so that the restraint APPEARED tight on the first go-round. Now, the ride op was very much aware of what I was doing, and on subsequent rides I did not have to go through the effort of faking it after that.

I just don't get what the big deal is. There's no way for me to have gotten hurt. The ride op was not doing this to anyone else. It was an unspoken agreement between the two of us. Talking on the cell phone while driving is about a million times more dangerous than what I was doing....and I'm sure we've all done that before.

It's not like the ride op can get fired at this point anyway! So there is no need to harp on about it. MagnumFan had fun, and there was absolutely no possible way he could have come out of the seat. Let's just let bygones be bygones and rest assured that that ride op probably won't be back or at the same ride next season anyway.

Stupid question, but is Sky Hawk just like a giant Ocean Motion, or are the sensations different? I suppose I just always concentrated on the coasters and never got around to riding Sky Hawk.

djDaemon said:
So, exactly what else could have gone wrong due to this action (aside from him falling out)?

I think you might be blowing this a tad out of proportion. He wasn't endangering those around him. He wasn't supporting Al Qaeda, either.

He could have fallen on someone, grabbed someone else for support on the way out and hit them/dragged them with him, something could have fallen from him like a phone or other object and hurt someone else.

Using a restraint in any way other than its intended use is stupid and dangerous. Obviously we've seen some silly crap come from Cedar Fair regarding safety, but proper use of the restraints no matter how trivial it may seem is the only way to do it right and safe. No amount of argument from you is going to change that fact.

I like skyhawk, but there is something about the lap bar that feels unsafe to me.

MagnumFan said:

I just don't get what the big deal is. There's no way for me to have gotten hurt. The ride op was not doing this to anyone else. It was an unspoken agreement between the two of us. Talking on the cell phone while driving is about a million times more dangerous than what I was doing....and I'm sure we've all done that before.

Why are the harnesses even tightened for anyone then? They could just let them go and give everyone the thrill you got.

Here is the rule at Cedar Point regarding safety:

"Safety is number one at Cedar Point. All passenger restraint systems, including lap bars, shoulder harnesses and seatbelts, must be positioned, fastened and tightened to allow guests to ride. We are required by the State of Ohio to enforce all manufacturer requirements."

Both you and the ride hosts didn't comply. When Cedar Point is trying to keep everyone safe, people always just have to try and test their policies.

I usually think it is okay to have a fist or so worth of room between the rider and the harness, but letting like 8+ inches of room between is to much.

People ride Magnum with their lapbar a click or two loose all the time so they don't bruise their thighs, so I don't really see how this is any different. However if I, the guest chooses to push his gut out into fooling the ride op into thinking the lapbar is tight, shame on me. If you, the ride op acknowledges it and lets it happen, shame on you. Either way I wouldn't brag about it on a public forum.

There is a difference.

1. Having like a fists (2-3 clicks on Magnum) distance between the harness and the rider is much different than having 10+ inches of slack.

2. Thighs will not bruise on Skyhawk. Even if it did, keeping the bar 10 inches up really isn't necessary.

I dunno, I'd be pretty hypocritical if I were to say what MagnumFan was doing was wrong, I probably would have done that crazy stuff back in the day, but I completely changed my riding habits after May 31, 2003.

However, bragging about it on a public forum isn't the best idea.

~Rob

^^Again it comes back to your size. From what MagnumFan said, it sounds like I am a similar size to him. The difference between one click of the harness and it being completely against me is probably only about one fist.