Flight Commander

[spunXtain]

Why was it removed? Did anyone ever fall out of it?

[m@ilman]

Sunday, June 9, 1991 a woman had entered the ride intoxicated. The woman had entered into one of the cars as a single rider (the Flight commander cars carried 2 people, like most rides). One of the features of Flight Commander, was in the middle of the car, was a joystick which "controlled" the cars, they could do a full 360 degree barrel roll, and could controll the nose to raise and lower a bit. Anways, during the ride cycle because (i suppose) of the intoxication, and low reaction, she started the car to do a barrel roll, obviously going upsidown her hand came off and as the car continued to do the barrel roll, she slipped into the empty passenger compartment and fell out of the ride. My Supervisor for GR this year worked on the Zephyr that year, and has a good friend who was working at the Flight Commander on Black Sunday. Apparently, during the ride, he says they saw something which they thought was a coat falling out of the ride. They didn't realize she had fallen out until the ride cycle stopped, and noticed that the woman they put in the car at the beginning...was no longer in the car.

Here are a few pictures of the Flight Commander (Courtesy of PKICENTRAL.com) so you can understand a little of what im talking about :

[coasterrz]

The ride lingered at the park after the accident. Modifications were made to the restraints, which were deemed to be improperly designed. I believe the ride was finally removed at the end of the 1994 or 1995 season due to low ridership. Since the removal of Flight Commander, that plot of land has remained empty of a free attraction. In 1996, a sign popped up saying a new drop ride would appear in 1997, but that plan was later changed to the water park. More recently, that plot of land was home to the Eurobungee upcharge attraction, which did not return to the park this season.

[m@ilman]

The Loading que can still be seen to this day. That picture i posted above, if you are in the park at that same place where the picture is, on the left there is a food stand ( i forget the name). If you walk to that food stand's fence behind it you can accually see the old que area, and the loading platform below. (The cars were accually loaded underground, and then the arm raised and you had free controll of the cars. If i can, im accually thinking of trying to get some pictures sometime of it (if I can), because i always loved the Flight Commander, and have always been interested in the FC Disaster and all about the ride.

m@Ilman

[Beastfreak]

The queue lines are still there, well the poles, but not the railings. The center was filled in with concrete, so the queues just end into a wall.

[PKI Homey]

I liked Flight Commander as well. I thought it was cool that you could control the barrel rolls.

The ride lingered at the park after the accident. Modifications were made to the restraints, which were deemed to be improperly designed.

I guess that change wasn't enough to convince people to give it another try.

[PKI_Diana]

The queues were removed and placed at my ride, Eiffel Tower. Or at least that is what my manager told me last year.

[Beastfreak]

If that is the case, the poles that go into the ground are still inplace, they only took the railings.

[coasterrz]

Yeah, Eiffel Tower did get new railings and concrete a couple years ago. I don`t know if the railings came from the old Flight Commander queue or not.

[wanna_be_03]

Sunday, June 9, 1991 a woman had entered the ride intoxicated.  The woman had entered into one of the cars as a single rider (the Flight commander cars carried 2 people, like most rides).  One of the features of Flight Commander, was in the middle of the car, was a joystick which "controlled" the cars, they could do a full 360 degree barrel roll, and could controll the nose to raise and lower a bit.  Anways, during the ride cycle because (i suppose) of the intoxication, and low reaction, she started the car to do a barrel roll, obviously going upsidown her hand came off and as the car continued to do the barrel roll, she slipped into the empty passenger compartment and fell out of the ride.  My Supervisor for GR this year worked on the Zephyr that year, and has a good friend who was working at the Flight Commander on Black Sunday.  Apparently, during the ride, he says they saw something which they thought was a coat falling out of the ride.  They didn't realize she had fallen out until the ride cycle stopped, and noticed that the woman they put in the car at the beginning...was no longer in the car.

They lady came out of her harness trying to get a view of what was going on in oktoberfest, where two fatalites had just occured in the lake incident, and inadvertainly added herself to the death toll. otherwise your story is correct.

[StXBomber]

Welcome! Just wanted to say that she was in fact intoxicated. Sorry, but that ride was too far away to get any shot of seeing Oktoberfest.

[DegenRider]

Like brad said WRONG!

Thats what they thought happned. The lady was drunk.

Shaggy  Reply | Edit | Quote  6/9/2004 1:43:17 PM 

Actually don't you mean that "On this date in 1991 it was Black Sunday at KI"?

I was not there, but one of my very best friends was. He worked, at the time, as a show technician in the Festhaus. He can tell you in vivid recollection all that happened that day.

However, most people that worked (or still work) at KI that were there that day prefer to not recall it.

Many people confuse the incidents and how they occurred. The lake electrocutions happened first, and three people were involved. Two of the three died including a security officer. As soon as it happened, that area of the park was evacuated and closed off. The Festhaus was immediately closed and staff sent home. Life-Flight choppers flew into the park to take the victims.

Other areas of the park remained operational as normal, with KI trying hard to not upset guests or disrupt all park operations. However within minutes, the accident occurred on Flight Commander. Initial thoughts of inspectors and park officials were that the female had chosen to ride the attraction in order to get a better look at what was going on in Octoberfest and wiggled out of the restraint to see.

Of course later investigation found that she had an exhorbitant blood-alchohol level and had passed out on the attraction. A design flaw was eventually found after a lengthy investigation. It was discovered that the combination of her passing out, with the ability for a small person to fall sideways out of the restraint, led to the fatality.

Upon the second accident, the entire park was evacuated immediately and closed for the remainder of the day.

Shaggy

[drewbari]

Drop Zone was going to be were FC was.

[DegenRider]

Incorrect

Drop zone would of been there but not the Gyro Drop Model. Ours would of been a regular 2nd gen Drop Tower.