Skyhawk Cable Snap - July 26, 2014

Pete said:
The ride ops are trained to press the e-stop button if something goes wrong, I think the freewheeling was actually good to avoid over stressing the ride after the tension cable broke. To those who think this wasn't handled well, you're wrong. As Dave explained, the e-stop button is supposed to work like it did and the ride operator did exactly what they should have.

Glad someone said this...just like driving a car, are you going to slowly hit the brakes when you see an accident in front of you or slam them on like your instincts tell you to do? Cedar Point trains their ride ops the right way, they did what they were supposed to do.

Sad, I hope Skyhawk isn't on it's way to an early grave. Don't want to see it's grave stone on Halloweekends just yet! But safety first for sure....

I still wonder what May have caused this to happen, I hope we find out. We never did find out about Shoot the Rapids.

Maverick00 said:
I still wonder what May have caused this to happen, I hope we find out. We never did find out about Shoot the Rapids.

It is really none of our business. There will be an investigation into the cause and the park & manufacturer will share that information with the appropriate parties.

I would feel alot better knowing what the problem was and if they took all the steps to prevent it from happening again.

Whatever they did to Shoot the Rapids, It's fixed and running good this season! I hope and pray that it stays that way! :) Brian I agree with you as well. I hope they get this fixed soon and the ride stays. It's still a great ride! Until a lawsuit is filed, there's no reason to get rid of Skyhawk.

I hope they do an extensive safety inspection on this ride. I'm really wondering why there's been so many issues the past 2 seasons. This isn't an Intamin ride. It really makes me wonder if it's safe, it's hard to say if I would want to go on it again.

Pete said:
The ride ops are trained to press the e-stop button if something goes wrong, I think the freewheeling was actually good to avoid over stressing the ride after the tension cable broke. To those who think this wasn't handled well, you're wrong. As Dave explained, the e-stop button is supposed to work like it did and the ride operator did exactly what they should have.

This is accurate. If you have worked with any sort of heavy machinery (which this ride, at the core, is) than you have an idea of how things work. I've worked stamping presses that struck with 100 tons of force, and guess what, the e-stop worked quickly, but usually was forced to have the current cycle finish once you passed a certain point of the downward strike.

I'm sure step #1 in whatever handbook they have is to hit the "e-stop". But quite frankly, we do not even know if this was what happened, what the function of the e-stop is (does it simply just cut power, or what), and what the implications of that procedure are.

On top of it is just a simple matter of reality meeting confused perceptions of the public. We as the public demand exciting, thrilling, feeling you are going to die type rides. And yet somehow we also expect that the people who provide this experience for us also have some magic power to reverse the laws of physics and gravity the second a problem develops.

Do the parks and manufacturers have a responsibility to provide the safest possible experience for us when we go on a ride? Of course they do. And it's in the interest of good business, not to mention being a good person, to deliver that. But at the same time NOTHING is 100% safe. Stairs aren't safe. Cars aren't safe. Do the people who experienced injury or stress from this incident deserve compensation? Yes. Does it mean it all has to go away? Only if you want a boring existence.

The questions I have probably won't ever get a clear answer. But I do wonder:
1) Is what is stated above, that the "e-stop" simply cuts the power and allows the ride to go into a free swing?
2) Was the e-stop ever utilized?
3) Are there other methods Cedar Point has that could have stopped the ride sooner? Was there a breaking system in place as a last resort type option? (I.E., could the ride have been stopped quicker but at a great risk of structural damage to the ride, therefore someone made an assessment of the situation and concluded that it wasn't life threatening, and allowed the ride to stop in a more gentler fashion.)

Also, as every cop, criminal investigator, and behavior scientist will tell you, time estimates of eye-witnesses or people involved in a traumatic event are unreliable. What feels like an hour to someone under duress could actually be 2 minutes. Did the ride REALLY swing for 10-15 minutes afterwards?

^Perhaps because things wear and break without a predetermined amount of time in between? Lets try to employ at least a modicum of perspective here.

Okay, I'm home!

Looking closely at the ride, I can first report what you already know:
A) It was not the "make it go" rope that failed
B) The damaged fence sections have been replaced, along with the bunting, although the fence has not been painted
C) The failed rope was, in fact, the leftmost of the four stabilization ropes on the gondola. This large rope is attached above the 3rd and 4th seats from the end by means of a large shackle. My photos are not as clear as they should be (I failed to get an extreme close-up of the relevant connection) but it appears that the top end of the rope terminates in a threaded sleeve which attaches to what appears to be a length of sleeved, threaded rod. This rod extends through a flange and tube on an extension arm extending out from the axle assembly. At the top, this rod appears to be secured by a washer and a double nut. I can't tell what other safe tying means may be in place, although the nuts and rod are painted, and the upper nut could easily be a locknut.

There are abrasions on the concrete and damage to the sod directly behind the damaged fence. There is no obvious damage to either rope attachment point.

The official statement from the park indicated that the rope had "disconnected". Looking at the damage, and possible failure scenarios, I think that's probably exactly what happened. My guess is that the rod disconnected from the carriage frame...the nuts came off, or the rod broke...and the attachment sleeve and rod remained attached to the end of the unbroken rope. I say that because as big and heavy as that rope is, a frayed end would still be flexible, and I would expect it to do less damage than a couple of feet of steel attached to the end of said wire rope. In addition, there is no sign of the failed rope at all on site, not even the top of the pin still jammed into the upper mounting hole. I am inclined to believe that however the upper connection failed, it didn't leave any pieces of itself behind. Also, I don't see any damage to the upper connection point in my photos.

You can see my photos HERE.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

We-o-we-oooo said:
^Perhaps because things wear and break without a predetermined amount of time in between? Lets try to employ at least a modicum of perspective here.

Since my post admittedly is long winded, which part are you referring to?

This video was posted by someone earlier in this thread. This particular ride comes to a powered stop within a few swings after the part comes loose and falls off.

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

So that would appear to be a controlled stop, where the ride power system is used to stop the ride, in Dave's acronym, "RFN".

I would bet Skyhawk is capable of the same controlled stop.

Or was it just the end of the cycle? I can't really tell. It did look a bit quicker than a normal cycle ending, but I am not sure.

Ah, true, could just be the natural end of the cycle. And I would bet that a variant smaller than Skyhawk would take less time to fully stop.

TTD 120mph said:
^^^That "smoke" is nothing to worry about. I highly doubt it had something to do with last night.

Yeah, that was what I thought. I knew the ride is powered on some kind of steam or something so that was probably where they release the excess heat. I was just too ignorant to notice it before.;)

That was a Cycle Stop, not an E-Stop. SkyHawk can do both.

The ride is powered by compressed air, not steam, that would be worse.

The speculation on what the crew should have done/ could have done really needs to stop. They had to make a split second decision, and given that nobody is fatally injured, they made the right choice.

themeparktechie said:
That was a Cycle Stop, not an E-Stop. SkyHawk can do both.

The ride is powered by compressed air, not steam, that would be worse.

The speculation on what the crew should have done/ could have done really needs to stop. They had to make a split second decision, and given that nobody is fatally injured, they made the right choice.

Amen....you are so right....no on is fatally hurt, the crew did what they did on a split second decision...

The ride normally stops by the air pressure in the tubes, so if you open all of the valves and let it come to rest on its own (I've seen that happen for some reason), it isn't going to be quick.

Thabto said:
E-stop should mean stop now, not 10 minutes from now.

I hope they do an extensive safety inspection on this ride. It really makes me wonder if it's safe, it's hard to say if I would want to go on it again.

I would feel alot better knowing what the problem was and if they took all the steps to prevent it from happening again.

You make a lot of really dramatic and often ridiculous posts.

sglaser said:
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

This just amazes me..Instead of contacting the very honest and great PR team the park has had set up for numerous years. You would rather contact enthusiasts, fanboys, and random members of this and other enthusiast websites. Nor would you find any facts yourself using other news websites or even this website itself using the search function (did you read the forum stickys first :P). However, I guess this should come to no surprise for me coming from the one who blew the CP Marriage Controversy out of proportion. I think I did more research on your site to make this statement than you did in your two recent CP stories. Pitiful what the news has become in this day and age.

Now onto the important stuff that basically is covered..Ride had a problem, ride e stopped, everything opened and swung freely until gravity took over and the ride stopped. All crews needed to respond to this scenario did everything asked of them in a highly expidited manner and did everything that could be expected of them in this kind of random acident. Two injuries unfortunately and probably some very scared people, I wouldn't doubt that. However, given circumstances and other park accidents, the park executed this quite well. The results could have been MUCH worse, and everyone here should know that. A train didn't derail, no one ended up being a fatality, and everything worked as intended.

Random how did this happen kind of accident that noone could see coming unfortunately did happen, but everything happened as safely as it could, and everyone lived to enjoy another day alive. I'd call that a good day.

Very well said. +1