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Ohio State Fair Ride Malfunction (1 Death and critical injuries)


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1 hour ago, teenageninja said:

Does the article mention the specific issues that it had?  I highly doubt any problems it had were related to the failure of the material.

It does not specifically mention what issues it had. But this does give all injured and families of deceased something that would be brought up in court. Many people have speculated from the pic of the arm that you can see rust that has been painted over. That's an issue if you ask me

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Yeah I was one who thought I saw rust.  I brought it up on a forum on the Carowinds page and I have about 4 people hounding me that it was not rust but a clean break due to metal fatigue. I dunno It looked sorta rusty but it could be my eyes.

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Yeah For some reason they are rude on that site. Oh well. Of course if it was then  that's a problem m they just tried to cover up. If it was metal fatigue, This goes back to how well do that go in depth for an inspection. These rides should go through an in depth inspection to catch this stuff before it happens. Metal is strong but it also ages.

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I need to point out the article does not state the issues but the video embedded in the page does.  The ride also passed inspection and operated in North Carolina after these issues were addressed.  Here are the issues as listed in the video.  These all sound minor to me.

1. Repair damaged junction box

2. Secure all sweep components and hardware.

3. Eliminate the trip hazards from the decking

4. Properly secure wiring entering the deadmans switch

5. Properly install/secure controller cover

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19 minutes ago, Kenban said:

I need to point out the article does not state the issues but the video embedded in the page does.  The ride also passed inspection and operated in North Carolina after these issues were addressed.  Here are the issues as listed in the video.  These all sound minor to me.

1. Repair damaged junction box

2. Secure all sweep components and hardware.

3. Eliminate the trip hazards from the decking

4. Properly secure wiring entering the deadmans switch

5. Properly install/secure controller cover

I would think the sweep components would be a big deal since the sweeps are part of the ride itself right? Not that it effected this accident or cause it.  I hear them keep saying the sweeps connected to the gondola.

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There's several key points to note here. First, it looks like inspection schedules could have missed any potential stress related failures. Here is their testing schedules and it requires only one fatigue related test: http://caresofficials.org/sites/default/files/cares_docs/cares-ndt-list2017-03-12-0955.pdf .

Second, there's nothing I can see in regards to NDT of the ride carriages themselves. I don't think any ride designer can envision a calamity of this degree, since metal fatigue failures happens over months/years. Hence a proper inspection can catch a Issue before it spirals out of control.

I have concerns that the investigation will be of political nature, since the incident occurred on a contracted service on public land. Thoughts?

Also, testing/inspections I heard was rushed due to recent flooding. Was this one of the rushed inspections?

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I should apologize as that link to the video was pretty much a sensationalized story to make headlines. As Maverick44 pointed out, none of those issues have anything to do with the accident that happened. Hopefully, we will get an answer soon. 

A thought that occurred to me. I understand metal can become fatigued. There are many steel coasters that are much older than that ride. Why are those still standing but this ride had a bad failure? I am sure the stresses are different, but a steel structure like Vortex has had to endure quite heavy trains plus Ohio winters can be bad. Just curious is all I guess.

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1 hour ago, KIBeast said:

I should apologize as that link to the video was pretty much a sensationalized story to make headlines. As Maverick44 pointed out, none of those issues have anything to do with the accident that happened. Hopefully, we will get an answer soon. 

A thought that occurred to me. I understand metal can become fatigued. There are many steel coasters that are much older than that ride. Why are those still standing but this ride had a bad failure? I am sure the stresses are different, but a steel structure like Vortex has had to endure quite heavy trains plus Ohio winters can be bad. Just curious is all I guess.

Could be a factor of a lot of different things.  Improperly treated material, improperly selected material, etc.  Also, the maintenance budget for a park like Kings Island is significantly higher than the company who owns these attractions.

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On 7/29/2017 at 10:23 AM, upstop said:

Additional info. The manufacturer was aware and warned customers of structural fatigue.

https://youtu.be/Ut8954iELxM

This video offers very little explanation for anything.  The pics of the affected area on page 1 are different than the pics in the video.

Just another media outlet trying to uncover a smoking gun.

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A fairly substantial development...
http://www.10tv.com/article/amusement-industry-group-eyes-corrosion-ohio-state-fair-accident

The National Association for Leisure Industry Certification, which represents ride inspectors and provides technical assistance to the amusement ride industry, issued a technical bulletin stating that the ride’s sweep arm suffered from corrosion that had reduced the metal’s thickness. It adds that water had been able to impact the structure during transportation and storage processes.

 

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2 minutes ago, Maverick44 said:

^^ beat me too it. That's crazy. They really need to inspect these rides better and more often. They do sit in rain.

The issue here is that the local inspections are based so much on visual checks. My question would be: What did the ride look like before it was last repainted? If a habit had been made of sanding down rust and repainting, there's obviously only so much metal that can be removed before the structure is compromised beyond what its being asked to do. 

 

It's worth nothing that the non-destructive testing regimen for these rides only called for major joints to be checked, so who knows how long this problem has been percolating under the paint. 

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4 hours ago, Browntggrr said:

It is interesting that the National Association for Leisure Industry Certification has not looked at the ride themselves.

Given that this group is formed of European ride inspectors, I don't think it's that interesting at all. 

Ohio's Dept of Agriculture, Ohio State Highway Patrol, OSHAA, private investigators for Amusements of America, and representatives from KMG have all been involved in on-site investigations. Since many similar rides are in Europe and European ride inspectors will certainly be asked to look at these rides, it's likely that KMG is providing information to them to better inform inspectors and hopefully prevent any similar issues with these rides. 

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