Skyhawk Cable Snap - July 26, 2014

Gotta wonder what happened...I didn't think those ropes were under much stress, just there to stabilize the sweep...but if that were the case what would cause one to fail catastrophically like that?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I don't know what the failure was last season. I was under the impression it was something with the drive cable or propulsion system. I agree with Rideman. The cable that broke tonight is normally not under much stress - or so we thought. I am having trouble coming up with a theory on what happened.

The fence picture is crazy. You can see from the flag banners that 3 sections of the fence are completely gone.

So now the latest is 2 reported injuries, one of them including a broken leg. Thankfully nothing life threatening but still a horrible accident. My thoughts and prayers will be with those involved and their families.

From what I've read, the people on the ride when the accident happened were freaking out and were in a panic. That picture of the fence is just crazy. Lots of people usually stand right there to watch, so thankfully it was toward the end of the night so I'm guessing not as many people were standing there than if it had happened during the middle of the afternoon.

I really love Skyhawk and would hate to see it go, but after all these incident (especially this major one) I wouldn't be surprised if it unfortunately gets removed.

I heard that the other injury was somebody getting hit in the mouth by a piece of wood from the fence.

I think this might be the end to skyhawk...

My prayers to those involved in the accident. Both those directly injured and those who will live with the trauma of being on it when it broke. The image showing the riders is haunting.

Having said that - I am saddened by what will surely be the demise of my favorite non-coaster in the park. We road it over a dozen times during the Coaster-Campout. Truly a fantastic ride.

I hope everyone turns out okay. I just rode this the day before it happened. I am sorry to say this but, as Skyhawk is one of my favorite rides in the park, I wouldn't plan on seeing it run for a very long time.

If they can determine why the cable or cable mount failed and prevent future failures I could easily see the ride re-opened.

Would like to talk to anyone who was at the park last night and saw what happened: call or text 216-316-6959, or email sglaser@plaind.com
Also interested in finding out more about the problems this ride has had in the past.
Thanks -- Susan Glaser/The Plain Dealer

A fan forum is definitely the best place to research what type of problems an amusement ride has had in the past. We are all obviously experts, and mechanical engineers that can explain the exact circumstances of past ride troubles.

For instance, did you know Millennium Force had a fourth green train that went into the lake and has been there ever since?

If you can't detect our sarcasm let us know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcSAoHLopgY

Similar ride had piece fall off.

Several installations all over the world and it seems other than the above YouTube video and the recent problems at Cedar Point I haven't found any similar breakdowns online.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screamin'_Swing

That's why everyone needs to wait for the official word of what happened. Just an example, an eyewitness said it took 15 minutes for the ride to stop swinging - my non-expert and worthless analysis of that is it must have been the drive cable that snapped. However, there is a picture that appears to show it was a carriage stabilization cable that broke.

Even an eyewitness might not know the difference, or the terms used to describe it and neither do I. I just called that doohickey a carriage stabilization cable for the lack of knowing exactly what the heck its called. Just imagine if the news runs with that, my eyewitness account... Yea the carriage stabilizer cable snapped after the turbo-entabulator bolt fractured on the meridian seam nut...

^ thats what i thought at first, then i saw the picture, and it should've stopped as normal.

If there was a cable loose and swinging around the riders, why wouldn't they stop the ride immediately instead of letting it swing freely for 15 minutes until it loses it's energy? That sounds far too dangerous. I think that would mean they were unable to stop the ride because the cable that snapped caused them to lose control of the ride.

Here's another story on the incident.

http://fox8.com/2014/07/27/two-people-hurt-after-cable-snaps-on-sky...dar-point/

and another one:
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/oh-erie/2-injured-saturday-...point-ride

It definitely looked like it wasn't the drive cable but rather one of those cables on the arm (can clearly see the broken cable). But if the eyewitness account said it took forever to stop...

We'll just have to wait and see what the park officially says.

At any rate, fence is repaired with new wood as of this morning. No temporary barricade or anything on the ride.

I wonder if it's possible if a drive cable snapped first causing a sudden jarring of the carriage as it went from a controlled swing to a free swing which caused the cable above the seats to be under some additional stress and it snapped? That's about the only way I could see the eyewitness account making sense. It's probably more likely that the eyewitness account is just wrong.

Here is an eyewitness account of the incident:
http://www.wkyc.com/story/news/local/northeast-ohio/2014/07/27/two-.../13235979/

It was indeed a cable attached to the carriage that snapped. And they cut power to let the ride lose it's energy and it took several minutes to stop. That's a poor way to handle this. There should be some sort of e-brake or manual stop on the ride.