Top Thrill Dragster 2022 Status

I'm not a legal expert but if the state just cleared CP and their employees from any fault and you go ahead and fire some folks anyways you might be making the situation worse?

Maybe someone here has a better memory than I do. I have some recollection that during the initial test runs, they fully populated the brake run. Then, as they tuned the ride, they removed the excess brake fins. Why the brackets weren’t removed, I have no idea. Is it possible the brackets are welded to the track?

BleauxJays said:

I'm not a legal expert but if the state just cleared CP and their employees from any fault and you go ahead and fire some folks anyways you might be making the situation worse?

I don't believe the state cleared CP of any fault.

Rather, they just said there wasn't enough evidence to prove a violation of state law.

One can be at fault for negligence or a civil tort without violating the law, and one can violate the law without there being enough evidence to prosecute.

DA20Pilot said

Rather, they just said there wasn't enough evidence to prove a violation of state law.

This is my understanding. There just wasn't enough there for the state to come out and flat out say there was criminal negiligence (or enough to prosecute). That doesn't mean the family can't sue in civil court. And I'm not lawyer but there is some not great things in that report that still work against the Point in case of a civil lawsuit.

The lawsuit will never see a court room. It will be settled out.

If we talk through Dave's observations, it's possible that something wasn't aligned right on the brake track, which raises two observations for me. One is that anything misaligned would likely cause damage to the brakes on every train. The second is that there are no catwalks along the brakes presumably because the static nature of the brake fins implied there's little reason to look at them that often. If the report says there were some that were loose (I didn't read it, just repeating above), then that challenges the notion about inspecting them.

While inspecting the remaining trains, ODA ARSI observed that the five other Top Thrill Dragster trains showed wear marks on their outer edges. According to the daily operational journal dated August 15, 2021, the blue train was operated during the daily pre-opening inspection and then taken out of the rotation as a spare train. ODA ARSI inspected the proximity flag plate from the blue train and documented evidence of minor wear marks on the outer edge.

I found this text from the report interesting. If that's true, then the problem started in the morning test runs at the latest. I wonder if the pictured malformed (unused?) brake bracket is part of the daily inspection. Being that the track is elevated, I assume a man lift is required to get a close look.

Since people have been talking for a few years. It's time to build a Dark Roller Coaster. That is what I would do to make people excited!!!

I spent 90 minutes lapping Xcelerator on Monday, taking advantage of their heavy favoring of the FLP line to get 7 rides. I am going to miss those abrupt and powerful hydraulic launches and excellent lap bars. Damn.

I would think that technology today would allow for a Dragster-like coaster but safer and with less complexity and fewer issues.

Report Timeline (stitched together from the various interviews):

8/2: 3rd shift was told to investigate a "ticking noise” in the brake run. Found that bolts on the “L brackets” were loose. 3rd shift ran out of time to finish tightening them all and assumed that the day shift did it. Reported that the brake-brackets are out of alignment.

8/13: 3rd shift had to tighten 16 brake-run bolts (hopefully the 8/2 bolts were eventually tightened?). Bracket again out of alignment. Removed bracket and re-aligned and installed with new stuff.

The key here is that this is where the damage on the track is. One could conclude that the bolts are routinely becoming loose, making the brackets loose, and also throwing them out of alignment.

8/14: Damage is noticed on the Black Cherry train (it was “hit” by something) and some metal was found in the guide wheel. No one could figure out how this happened.

8/15: In the morning, it is observed that several stop blocks (I don’t know what that means) have bolts that are sheered off on the launch side. No cause is ever found, and they are just replaced.

8/15: Later that day, maintenance is called because of “noises” coming from brakes. They mechanic finds some “bad bolts” (whatever that means) and replaces the blocks and bolts.

This guy, who is the last person to do something to this part of the track before the **** hits the fan, is in his very first season.

8/15: “The (left) flag plate on Green Train somehow caught the bracket”. This is the accident.

8/16: During the investigation, it’s found that the blue train (that did the test runs on 8/15 and was then parked) has “wear marks” on the left flag plate. The same piece is literally loose on the purple train. It’s also noticed that there are multiple bolts, brake fins, and brackets loose on both sides of the track in the brake run.

Everyone involved states that nothing was out of place/loose/worn the night before and/or that morning.

That’s it.

Does anyone have a link to the full ODA report? I'm having a difficult time finding it online.

Thanks.

Nice time line Kevin.

That would sure seem to indicate that this was a new phenomena that started in early August as opposed to an on-going issue that we just didn't know about.

So the $64M question is what changed/happened that started this?

This is most concerning to me:

8/15: In the morning, it is observed that several stop blocks (I don’t know what that means) have bolts that are sheered off on the launch side. No cause is ever found, and they are just replaced.

The whole timeline does not lineup with what I had been told about CP maintenances top tier practices.

In a news article today, Tony Clark was quoted as saying TTD will remain closed while the park evaluates its “future”.

Reading between the lines this tells me that it’s more than just evaluating repairs to get it back up and running. This is them saying they are deciding on the permanent future of TTD

Agreed. I read that as a tacit acknowledgement that they are contemplating permanent closure.

Sheered off and not thoroughly investigated makes me wonder what else gets shrugged off maintenance wise at the point. This baffles and worries me at the same time.

Nicely done, Kevin. But, sheared. :-)

I was just trying to be accurate; It's actually misspelled in the report.

But I stand corrected. :)

Kevinj said:

8/14: Damage is noticed on the Black Cherry train (it was “hit” by something) and some metal was found in the guide wheel. No one could figure out how this happened.

8/15: In the morning, it is observed that several stop blocks (I don’t know what that means) have bolts that are sheered off on the launch side. No cause is ever found, and they are just replaced.

Outstanding, thank you Kevin.

To me, this right here is the smoking gun. I'd bet that the object that "hit" the black cherry train was the malformed brake bracket. I'd imagine it was good that morning and throughout the day leading up to this entry the end of the bracket loosened and drifted into the operating envelope. At some point it drifted enough that the black cherry train collided with it (at the correct angle that warping makes sense now, especially knowing that they were coming out of alignment as much as documented). 8/14 is the "initial" event that seemed to be missing to me.

8/15 morning. I think this entry may be technically incorrect. But whatever the referenced item is I think indicates the black cherry train post collision had spread damage across the track from parts being out of alignment. I also think they may have re-alinged/tightened bolts on the brake bracket in question. Throughout the day it loosens (and is already out of place due to yesterday) until it drifted far enough that green trains flag doesn't just contact, but is ripped off.

Totally guestimate but it makes sense. And if that's even close then I think it may be all over. That very well may be the end for TTD.

I have a hard time seeing lawyers and insurance, as others have said, touch this with a 420 foot high pole after that.

If you haven't read it, the metal in the guide wheel was identified as a piece of aluminum about the size of a coin.

“a chunk of aluminum was found in the guide wheel” on the Black Cherry (“BC”) train. Bryner described the item as round and “like a coin.” Bryner indicated that he and Stadler inspected the return side, main lift, and launch track and found no damage. Bryner stated that he and Stadler were not able to discover the cause of the impact.