Vertigo single tower collapse

The water expanding makes sense, but my thinking is that when designed, they would have taken that into account.  Now, I don't know the design, but what's the difference between the design of those towers and, say, supports for WT?  I realize there's only one tower with no supporting structure, whereas a coaster is a "web" of supports, but is this really a feasible reasoning for the break?  I could see if it wasn't sealed and/or bolts not tightened down so water could seep in, but I just don't see how it would have happened. 
Now, by no means am I saying that it didn't happen this way.  I'm no engineer, so I just am trying to understand how it could have happened this way.
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Mr. Skyward is my hero.
"Why don't you change your name to Mike?" "No way, why should I change my name, he's the one who sucks."

Hey Spartan,cut me a break,no need for the smart*****comment in the WT forum. 1100 said Cedar Points new ride that was  under construction, that would lead one to believe it was Wicked Twister. I can't help it if the news reports it wrong. Sheesh. I went straight to the WT forum since I thought it was a WT post. Had I posted it here and it was WT that fell, you would have been whining about me posting it here and not in the WT forum.

End of soapbox.

 

I was just at Great Bear Lodge and drove to the point over the weekend. Hard to believe something I just saw fell over.

No Rob wrong..You wouldn't of posted it here because you would of saw it was already posted and hence not duplicated..See what I mean?

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http://www.msu.edu/~armbrus9/cp.html
Fear the Mullet!

It was 42 degrees in Sandusky yesterday.

If it is not some type of manufacturing defect with the steel, then I'd put my bets on some type of bad seal allowing water to get inside the joints and freezing causing them to expand and contract.  I'm not the person who knows for sure, but this was thought to be one of the causes of the space shuttle Challenger explosion - the combination of inadequate seals of some type and a cold launch caused the problem.  This isn't to say that a shuttle launch and a standing tower can compare, but honestly, I think its more than "wind."  Wind is certainly taken into account when they design something like this.

As for the question of will it return.  I think it will.  Once CP is 100% sure that it will not happen again and measures are taken to prevent a re-occurance.  They opened up all the Chaos rides after the MIA incident, and Vertigo is probably a bigger investment than that.  The only thing making me think that it won't re-open is that I heard from someone that CP leased Vertigo in a similar manner as they did Ripcord.  This would mean they don't technically own the ride and there would presumibly be a way out of the deal.  I don't know if that is even the case, so its not worth speculating.  My feeling is that they made the investment to put it up, it probably makes them money, so as long as its deemed safe, they'll re-open it.

 

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

Winston306...  I didn't say you were odd.  I don't know you.  I said the comment was odd.  I don't make personal attacks. 

Isn't part of the thrill we all experience the idea that this enthusiasm we have is partly based on "danger" or at least "perceived danger"? 

Bungee Jumping is a great example.  Part of the exilaration of the experience is looking back and saying, "I survived".  We all saw stories of bungee cords that broke yet people did it anyways.  Same can be said for parachuting and other extreme things.

Obviously it had to do with the weather conditions. The ice and wind probably don't agree real well with the supports.

Those of you saying that you'll never ride...Why? The ride operated perfectly in the summer, and in warm conditions it is probably the prime conditions for it. If you don't ride it because you wouldn't have before this happened then that's just fine. But if you don't ride it after this happened, when it will most definitely be more structurally sound, that's just not very logical...I mean how many people were jumping at the chance to ride MF again after it's cable broke, or Magnum after it's change broke?

See my point?

No Matt.. they own the ride.. S&S doesn't do lease's the way SkyCoaster (tm) does..

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VertiGo Rides - 82 (2001)
And looking forward to more!!!

I look at it like flying after Sept. 11th.  People are scared.  I, for one, would have been more than willing to fly.  Granted, it wasn't completely secure, but I guarantee people were looking out for suspicious things.  I felt it would be safet to fly Sept. 13th than it was Sept. 9th, and the same goes for the ride. 

Say you break a window.  Wouldn't you replace that window with something a little stronger, just so it won't break again?  Or your basement floods, so you buy a battery back up for your sump pump so that it won't flood again.  Same idea, in my mind.

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Mr. Skyward is my hero.
"Why don't you change your name to Mike?" "No way, why should I change my name, he's the one who sucks."

This problem will prove to have NOTHING to do with the weather. Water and ice won't cause a collapse of the tower, at least not the amount of ice that could have accumulated on the tower, the ice does not weigh enough. To compare the Challenger explosion and a steel ride tower is getting out there into the Twilight Zone. A combustion seal failed on the solid rocket boaster on the Challenger, because of bad design and cold (expansion issues), which caused flames to leak and ignite the fuel tank. Also, steel doesn't get brittle at the relatively warm temperatures on earth (yes, 25 degrees is warm). If that were the case, you couldn't cross a bridge, go up in a skyscraper, ride a ski lift, put up a flag on your flag pole, etc., etc., in the winter. CP is lucky that they are a seasonal park and the park was closed. This would have happened during operation had the park been open, probably sooner than this week, and the air temp. has nothing to do with it. Some type of failure, either fatigue or something loosened up, caused by the motion of the tower, is to blame. At least that's my prediction and best guess. We'll see what the official word is.

 

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It's very hard to drink all day...
Unless you start first thing in the morning.

Red Garter Rob said:
No Matt.. they own the ride.. S&S doesn't do lease's the way SkyCoaster (tm) does..

In that case...  I was talking out my*****about something someone else who was talking out their*****told me!  Rob is most likely the one who would know...

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

*** This post was edited by MDOmnis on 1/15/2002. ***

I'm agreeing more with Pete.  I don't see how some freezing ice and expansion could have caused this.  Ice and cold can break things, but I mean this is a very big and thick steel structure!  And I mean, the conditions havn't been very harsh at all.  It's been cold and windy, but nothing extreme. 

So I guess my theory is that the connections between the tower sections were not/became weakend from the ride's operation.  The tower's weight of 200 ft, fatigue, and partly weather conditions caused it's fall.

BTW, the tower is the one farthest away from Magnum right?

Think out of the box.

Maybe it was intentional? 

The world changed 9-11.

Of course it's laughable to think this was done on purpose!

Just like it was unthinkable of jets flying into buildings....

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

*** This post was edited by Jeffrey Spartan on 1/16/2002. ***

No, I don't ever feel that I may actually die when I'm on any ride.  How can you possibly compare MF cable and Magnums chain to this?  Chains, and now cables break and the anti-rollbacks do and did what they do.  I have never doubted they wouldn't.  If Vertigo had fallen during the season while in operation, people WOULD have died.  Just because it happened now doesn't mean it won't happen again.  Look at the example somone gave about flying and 09/11.  Didn't a man with plastic explosives get through secruity?  Yeah, he was stupid and tried to use it in front of people but the point is the opportunity for it to happen again was there.  No one knows for sure why the tower fell.  But if it is a design flaw, which I think it might be, you won't catch me on it or any version of it anytime soon.  This is just my opionion of course ;)  Not logical?  Concern for my own life sounds very logical to me.

I think the ice expansion sounds like a logical reason for the collapse, but we'll have to wait and see what the engineers find.  I know I'll be on it next season.  I'm just happy it didn't fall on Magnum, that would be terrible.
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-Chris Woodard
"Mean Streak would be better if they replaced the square wheels with round ones."

STRONG>ONT face=Arial size=4> /STRONG>
BLOCKQUOTE>VertiGo support topplesBR>ONT face="arial, helvetica">Tuesday, January 15, 2002
DIV align=left>
P>ONT size=3>Cedar Point's slingshot thrill ride opened in August; cause of break being investigated. /P>
P>ONT size=2>By BRANDI BARHITE /P>
P>ONT size=2>brandibarhite@sanduskyregister.com /P>/DIV>
DIV align=right>
P>ONT size=2>SANDUSKY /P>/DIV>
DIV align=ULL>
P>ONT size=3>A 265-foot steel support column broke off of the newest Cedar Point thrill ride, VertiGo, Monday afternoon. /P>
P>ONT size=3>No one was on the ride or standing around when one of three columns supporting the 300-foot vertical slingshot ride broke off from the top, according to Janice Witherow, public relations manager. The amusement park is closed for the season. /P>
P>ONT size=3>Witherow said the collapsed steel column was found at 3:30 p.m. by a Cedar Point worker. She said the bottom 65-foot portion of the column is still intact. /P>
P>ONT size=3>Witherow said the cause of the break is being investigated. At this point, nothing could be attributed to Monday's events. No one saw the column break, she said. /P>
P>ONT size=3>"It's too early to say what we are going to do," Witherow said. "We have called in the ride safety division of the Ohio Department of Agriculture." /P>
P>ONT size=3>The VertiGo, which debuted in August, is a slingshot ride located in Challenge Park near Soak City. The ride straps up to six passengers into a triangular carriage and launches them nearly 300 feet into the air at speeds reaching 50 mph. /P>
P>ONT size=3>The column at the northwestern section of the ride was the one that fell, Witherow said. /P>
P>ONT size=3>The ride had been touted for its range. Riders were able to choose one of three ways to ride it: Hot Rocket, in which riders remain upright throughout the ride; Cosmic lip, in which riders begin upright, but the seats rotate 150 degrees at the ride's climax so riders make a nose dive; or the Big Bang, in which riders are flipped forward 150 degrees shortly after launch. /P>
P>ONT size=3>Witherow said the area has been blocked off, and engineers from S&S Power, the company that designed the ride, are en route to investigate the cause and survey the damage the ride sustained when the column crashed. Witherow said damage to the ride looks minimal. /P>
P>ONT size=3>Rich Allen of the S&S Power is thankful that no one was injured. The Utah-based company also manufactured Cedar Point's Power Tower. /P>
P>ONT size=3>"If you are looking for a silver lining in this, it is that no one was on the ride, said the general manager. /P>
P>ONT size=3>Allen he does not know what caused the break either. /P>
P>ONT size=3>"I am dumbfounded," he said. "We had never had any problems with our rides before." /P>
P>ONT size=3>Although the ride opened late in the amusement park's season, it was well-received, according to Witherow. She said the park had no problems with the ride before. /P>
P>ONT size=3>Witherow said this incident will not compromise the safety of Cedar Point patrons. She said safety is Cedar Point's No. 1 concern, and the park will not decide to reopen, the ride until safety is guaranteed. /P>
P>ONT size=3>"These are rides we ride, our families ride, our children ride," Witherow said. "Cedar Point will never operate any ride unless they are 150 percent sure the ride is safe." /P>
P>ONT size=3>Cedar Point has never had a support column break on a ride before, according to Witherow. /P>
P>ONT size=3>VertiGo had been certified for its safety through the ride safety division of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. It was under construction for six months. /P>
P>ONT size=3>VertiGo was a pay-as-you ride attraction. It was not part of the main park. /P>/DIV>/BLOCKQUOTE>BR>
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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

It was not under construction for six months..

God I hate the press...

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VertiGo Rides - 82 (2001)
And looking forward to more!!!

Good thing for S&S, the GP doesn't know that they also built Power Tower, because then people might, key word might, say "They built power tower too? Well im not going on that either". Which is fine with me, shorter line.

Vertigo will re-open once safety is assured (hopefully by the start of the 2002 season.)

Im saying I think it was either a design flaw (with this one only)..or something that didnt get taken care of the right way when it was built. I really dont think ice was a factor on this one, it could be but I dont think it would be something that obvious, they would of accounted for that factor ahead of time.  Then again, isnt the only other one in CA? Or are there more?

Here is the last pic from the 13abc webcam... it was taken at 8:50 am on Tuesday
www.13abc.com/images/cpcam.jpg
I just did a bit of guessing on their site to figure out what the image name would be :)

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probie