Vertigo single tower collapse

Yes, you can clearly see in that webcam pic that it is missing a tower!

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2002- Raptor Hot Shots
Force Laps: 424
Wicked Twists: ???

Does the top of the towers have those flashing lights on it for planes flying by? If not probably totally wrong but, maybe a low flying plane hit the top of the tower causing it to fall, then the plane nose-dived in to the lake & is now on the bottom? Yeah Yeah I know what an imagination

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2001 MF Count: 10

Six months? It took like a week!

*** This post was edited by pezmanguy3 on 1/15/2002. ***

Great Pic! Its one you wanna right click on and save folks...

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http://www.msu.edu/~armbrus9/cp.html
mf laps = 100! No More No Less!!
Wheres the Electricity!

It did not take one night.. like 9 weeks form ground breaking till public opening..

Took 4 nights to raise all towers.. I was there.. half asleep.. With The Gemini Witch at my side..

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

One more thing that might be interesting. The CP ride was the prototype, used in testing at S&S. It probably has more hours than the other rides, so if it has a design flaw, it makes sense that the CP ride was affected. Those towers are probably always in motion, even in light winds. If the design resonates at a certain frequency at certain wind speeds, than I think a fatigued area could be made worse until it gets to the breaking point.

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

I'm not here for an argument, but after Pete mentioned prototype, it makes me wonder if we will ever see another "prototype" ride at the park, that is, one that hasn't already operated at another location.  We know that generally Cedar Point does not utilize prototypes, Kinzel wanted this ride, and I think this event will have an effect on all future ride decisions.

One question I have is do these rides include any sort of warranty, I mean, is it written that S&S will handle any problems for one year, or is it an understnding that the park and manufacturer would work together to fix any problems.  Or is the park on their own?

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Tyler

Magnum was a prototype, Milliennium Force was one. ... Cedar Fair and Cedar Point has always been a Leader in the PROTOTYPES so I don't think that was the Problem either

Some people really need to think twice about what kinds of rides really fall into the prototype classification.

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probie

The other two Thrill Shot rides(or whatever they are called) were both closed yesterday and are pending investigation.

Heres another article in the Sandusky Register which does a little more explaining:
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=51117?frontpage

- Andrew Hyde
http://www.experiencethepoint.com

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

The S&S guy brought up a good point in that artical about the other towers needing to be checked first.  Seeing as how those three towers have most likely been together since the beginning, experiencing nearly identical conditions (aside from the fact that they are oriented differently), its plausible that the other towers might experience the same failure if its some kind of design flaw.  If its a manufacturing defect in the one tower, then there probably isn't anything to worry about.

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

Well, the news made it over to Fort Wayne at least by radio. I bet the local TV news mentioned it as well. Not that it will have an effect on attendance or anything. The radio newscast said something like. "An investigation is underway as to why a 265 ft. tower collapsed on a ride at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The ride's name is VertiGo and is a sling-shot type ride." At least they didn't blow it out of proportion or anything.

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MrScott said:
Anybody see any middle eastern SFWOA employees in Sandusky recently?

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Would you mind keeping the off-topic, racist comments to yourself?  There are hundreds of millions of peaceful Middle Eastern Muslims who would never dream of harming another person.

To view such people as a nameless, faceless 'them' and paint them with the same brush as the terrorists is as fair as blaming all Christians for the crimes of Adolf Hitler and the SS, or the Inquisition, or the Crusades, or....

-CPlaya
(An empathetic, thinking Christian)

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

Yah!  And besides, this was probably done by some Extremist Smoker who wanted to give people something new to talk about so that they would quit posting to the "no smoking at C.P." thread :-)

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

You all are absolutely hilarious!

Why is it so strange to belive that someone would be more wary of a ride that had an accident than one that didnt? If you've ever read RideMan's site, he even suggests (paraphrasing of course) "If you see something 'not right' with a ride, dont ride". Well I personally dont think you could get anymore 'not right' than a ride designed to operate with three towers only having 2.

And on the "flying" bit, there are MANY reasons not to fly now rather than before 9-11. Even if security is tighter now so a hijacking is less likely, flying now is more stressful, more time-consuming, and there is a greater chance of 'misunderstandings'. I'm sure soon we're going to hear about a passenger catching a beat down for retriving a pen which somebody else thought was a weapon.

As for the *why* this happened, a good engineer trained in failure analysis would reserve judgement until a thorough investigation has been made. It's actually quite easy to distinguish a fracture caused by say bending fatigue and crack propagation caused by water/ice expansion.

BTW: Did you know that water is an exception to the general rule that "heat expands, and cold contracts"?
lata,
jeremy
--who got a "B" in Graduate Fracture Mechanics as an undergrad...

I was just wondering, does anyone know or have a guess as to how much each of those towers actually weighs?
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-Chris Woodard
"Mean Streak would be better if they replaced the square wheels with round ones."

So is this the first and last prototype CP will get? I never saw this ride in action, but watching this thing bend the way it does, on the news, freaked me out. So I guess the line, "If it doesn't sway, it will break" didn't hold true.

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2Hostyl said:
You all are absolutely hilarious!
And on the "flying" bit, there are MANY reasons not to fly now rather than before 9-11. Even if security is tighter now so a hijacking is less likely, flying now is more stressful, more time-consuming, and there is a greater chance of 'misunderstandings'.
 

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THis is why I won't fly anwhere anytime soon. My father is a regoinal sales manager and he travels all the time. He say's it's too much of a headache.

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Is there any X-Cubes or Game Boxes?
MF-344 Magnum-510

I have decided to come back with much apologies for argumentative postings.

I have read through this post after seeing a news article today about the collapse.  I have also been closely watching the WT construction over the past week as it has advanced quite a bit.  ALthough after Monday it seemed to have stopped, or at least it appears that way on the webcam.  I have noticed that they are moving from joint to joint all over the supports and track, as if they are double checking the work to make sure it is alright.  Has anyone else noticed this taking place?  If so do you think it is a direct result of the Vertigo tower.

Also I would like to say, I will also be i nline to be one of the first to Ride vertigo when it reopens.  I'm sure CP will provide more safety measures.

Yet another article was written by the Sandusky Register, this time explaining the "tests" a ride must pass in order to get it's operating license.
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=51098?localnewsdaily

- Andrew Hyde
http://www.experiencethepoint.com