Will TTD operations be impacted by Knott's incident?

That's scary. Given that I've never felt the ride is worth a wait exceeding 15 minutes, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable enough to ride these anymore. Call me an alarmist, but I dunno... maybe if the cause turns out to be something they can actively prevent or substantially mitigate, I'll change my mind.

I would think they are going even more above and beyond to make sure it's not going to happen again. If it were to happen a 3rd time I think a national spotlight would be put on it. We'd be seeing late night CNN specials headlined 'Are Roller Coasters Dangerous', along with crazy statistics.

Who wants to place a wager that there will be safety modifications to the front of TTD and Kingda Ka's trains next season?

I'll take that bet. What exactly are they going to do? Encase the car in Lexan?

Maybe not Lexan... but perhaps some metal shielding underneath...

From the looks of it, the danger wasn't from underneath. It came from the cable damaging the vehicle (and person/people) from above. Not sure how you guard against that.

It doesn't appear there was any damage from underneath. Or, at least none that affected the riders.

I understand how it happened now - I was under the impression the cable came up through the underside of the train some how...

I'm thinking along the lines of others on here that the cable/track/catch car mechanism needs to be re-engineered completely... I will most likely abstain from TTD in the future... IMHO.

Did you see the large gash in the middle of the train Dj? I'd have to say that the damage did indeed come from underneath. So my take on this is that the cable frayed, bunched up, struck the front of the train (which caused the kids injury). That in turn messed up the brake fins, and when the train rolled back through the fins, a bent fin that was sticking up struck something and caused the seat to do what we saw. The condition of the brake fins also explains why the train came to an sudden and complete stop.

Sorry, I just don't see how the cosmetic-ish damage to the train's front came from underneath.

Clearly, retrofitted OTSRs are the answer. ;)

And while they're at it, a few more seat belts.

Everyone join in... "Sandor.... TEAR IT DOWN... Sandor.... TEAR IT DOWN" :-)

No. While I'm probably not going to ride it again, I consider that ride integral to reducing my wait for rides that last longer than a TV commercial. :)

You'd put your impatience for waiting above the safety and security of others??? I'm appalled!!!

How Inhuman and Non-Christian!!!

:-)

I'd just as soon let Darwin sort all that out. :)

And I'm no Christian. I just play one on TV.

The ride doesn't have to actually carry passengers. Just sending an empty train about every 40 minutes will be sufficient for causing lines to empty out.

TTD 120mph said:
Did you see the large gash in the middle of the train Dj? I'd have to say that the damage did indeed come from underneath. So my take on this is that the cable frayed, bunched up, struck the front of the train (which caused the kids injury). That in turn messed up the brake fins, and when the train rolled back through the fins, a bent fin that was sticking up struck something and caused the seat to do what we saw. The condition of the brake fins also explains why the train came to an sudden and complete stop.

Have you seen my analysis of the damage over on CoasterBuzz? There are some inconsistencies in your version of the story, which I think I cover pretty well over there.

I am inclined to believe that the damage to the nose of the train was not caused by the rope coming up from beneath, but from the loose rope being dragged off the hood of the train. Note that the Fiberglas is not smashed, which is what we would have seen if the rope whipped through from below, but it looks to have been cut, which would result from the rope being dragged across the top of the car. Note also the precision with which that cut was made, and the absence of any obvious damage to even the paint on the chassis.

In the other photo with the bunched up rope, notice also that the damage to the brake fins is almost exclusively on the forward edge of the fin, that is the fin facing in the direction of travel. That tells me that the brake fins were damaged during the roll-back, not during the launch. Which makes sense, since during the launch the fins should have been retracted.

In short form, I suspect that initially the dead end of the rope recoiled back over the top of the train, then when the train overran the launch sled it became the sheave to pull the rope back. The rope sawed through the front of the train as it was stretched out on the track, the train continued up the hill. When the train rolled back, it caught the rope and pushed the rope into the brake fins, causing the brake fin damage.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

A much better explanation as always. Of course, I was just guessing. What I was getting at was that the rope might have damaged the fins internally and they were worsened as the train rolled back into them. I did notice that the extensive damage to the actual fins would have been on the rollback since the ends of some were bent in the opposite direction. And no I don't frequent CB anymore so I wouldn't have seen it.

Again - Say it with me... all together now... "SANDOR!!! Tear it DOWN!... SANDOR!!! Tear it DOWN" "Build us a B&M Build us a B&M!!!"

What is that from?