Windseeker ride malfunction strands Knott's visitors

[The Interpreter]

So here is a dumb question... If it has to be hand cranked, why dont they have a machine to do the cranking? Like an oversized drill? maybe speed things up? maybe buy a socket wrench so they can use just one motion?

#sarcasm

As my father used to say, there are no dumb questions. Only dumb answers. Perhaps this is even one.

Sometimes the simplest, most elegant solution defies the most brilliant of minds, who may be just too close to the problem.

[Browntggrr]

Now that OSHA is investigating, and these incidents are making national news, something will change.

[PKIVortex]

Are the other WindSeekers affected by this or just the one at Knotts?

[KI FANATIC 37]

^ If I had to guess, they will probably stay open but if they add something to the one at Knott's they will probably add it to all the other ones.

[Browntggrr]

^ If the other WS operate, and another has the same issue in the next few days, imagine the type of press CF will endure.

With any luck, the KBF WS is an isolated incident, but given the trend for the 2012 season, it is difficult to imagine.

[The Interpreter]

It depends. If the manufacturer decides to recommend closure of the rides while an investigation continues, at minimum the Kings Island and Cedar Point versions will close.

In the past, serious incidents have caused all similar rides nationwide to close.

Note that OSHA has jurisdiction over worker and workplace safety. Their involvement is....interesting.

[Hendrick]

Didn't Cedar Points and Carowinds also stall this year?

[The Interpreter]

Yes on both counts. With similarly long evac times.

[pkiboy]

UPDATE!! All WindSeekers are Closed CF nationwide.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-knotts-WindSeeker-riders-stuck-09201221,0,1284072.story

[Maverick00]

I think it's safe to say this ride won't be expanding to any park in the United States. Some people think this doesn't affect much but I know many people that see this on the news every couple months and refuse to ride it.

[CoastersRZ]

I can confirm that Kings Island`s WindSeeker was closed today at Haunt. I didn`t even see the ride crew anywhere near the ride.

[Hendrick]

Visitors have reported similar incidents on WindSeeker rides at Virginia's Kings Dominion and Canada's Wonderland in Ontario that were not widely reported in the media.

Not sure how accurate this statement is, but if its true, that's very interesting.

[stashua123]

were lucky Kings Island hasnt had any of these problems on our WindSeeker. It states on wikipedia that all the other WindSeekers except Kings Islands have had minor to major problems. I geuss were lucky?

[Leland Wykoff]

A bit more details from California OSHA:

"It’s not typical. It’s unusual, to see such a repetitiveness of issues with one type of ride," Dean Fryer, of Cal OSHA, told the NBC4 I-Team.

Cal OSHA plans to investigate whether there is a design flaw in the WindSeeker ride, Fryer said.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/WindSeeker-Knotts-Berry-Farm-Cedar-Fair-Entertainment-170800256.html

[The Interpreter]

Cal OSHA. Different jurisdiction than federal OSHA. That makes more sense. In any event, investigators and the media are both far more aggressive in California (and New Jersey, to name two major examples) than in, say, Florida, where large parks do their own inspections.

I strongly suspect that unless a faster, safer evac procedure is implemented, this ride is done. Three hours for this type of ride is not acceptable. I remember a sky ride at Kings Island. I wonder why it is no longer there...

[PKIVortex]

I figured Cedar Fair would close all of the WindSeekers as a precaution. I do think these rides are flawed in some way, I also find it interesting that when these things have stalled that are not many riders on board. The ride can hold 64 riders at a time, but when the stalls have happened at either parks, they are lesst then half the max riders on the ride. I wonder if this has soemthing to do with it?

[Bennett]

Would seem to me to be a serious design flaw. If the ride malfunctions, there should be a way to complete the ride cycle without a 3 hour ordeal to get down.

I would say that, at first blush, this is the beginning of the end of these rides...unless something as simple as a mechanical "crank", to get folks down in 10-15 minutes, not 3 hours, can be retrofitted.

[windshawne]

I rode WindSeeker this past weekend and have to say, I was completely unnerved. I have no idea how those people lasted up there for 3 hours.

I have ridden it before, but Friday night was windy. Well when we got about 3/4 of the way up, the wind blew just as I decided to turn and look outward (to the right - I was seated on the outside seat.) It caused me to panic and I spent the rest of the ride looking down at the center of the two seats holding on for dear life.

I'm not usually afraid of heights - when I feel secure - but I sure didn't feel secure on WindSeeker.

I do think part of it is my subconcious. It's as though my mind expects the chair to drop from underneath me at any given time - like a Drop Tower.

I was on it a week before Knotts' incident, and it was abnormally windy that day. The ride cycle seemed longer than normal, and I really didn't think we were going to get down. That took longer as well. We were going to take a second ride and decided not to because of that.

Not to disrespect Sparky or any other electrician on this site, but I am still against it. Simple mechanics are a lot easier to manually repair than anything electronic. Overriding a computer can be a daunting task. I like heights, but my last WS ride did freak me out a little.

[thunderbeast1968]

Would seem to me to be a serious design flaw. If the ride malfunctions, there should be a way to complete the ride cycle without a 3 hour ordeal to get down.

I would say that, at first blush, this is the beginning of the end of these rides...unless something as simple as a mechanical "crank", to get folks down in 10-15 minutes, not 3 hours, can be retrofitted.

I agree, three hour is too long to get the riders down. I would love to see a video of a " WindSeeker" being cranked down. Does the crew take turns hand cranking it down? ( I think your arm would get tired cranking a ride carriage, 300 ft. down. My arm gets tired from cranking an old fashioned ice cream maker, LOL)

[Original]

I really hope they cleaned those seats afterwards....

[The Interpreter]

AP story picked up by hundreds of media outlets worldwide:

http://m.washingtonpost.com/national/WindSeeker-ride-temporarily-closed-at-6-parks-after-riders-at-califs-knotts-left-hanging/2012/09/22/902124cc-046b-11e2-9132-f2750cd65f97_story.html

Not a good time for someone to chime in that any publicity is good publicity. It is not.

Note also the extent of previous stops

mentioned in the article.

Frozen brake?

[diamondhawk]

Maybe buying 6 of these in 2 years wasn't the best idea...

I wonder if Dick still thinks TTD was his worst decision?

[The Interpreter]

At one time, Cedar Point was known for not buying prototypes, but instead letting others take the risks of innovation, then topping them. Top Thrill Dragster was perhaps the first major exception. Buying six prototypes is very unlike the FUN of old.

[RingMaster]

All things considered, I am not surprised to see these rides closed down. Didn't we spend the first half of the 2011 operating season trying to fix the issue of the chairs coming dangerously close to each other after a cycle? That was something Mondial should have figured into the equation prior to the arrival of the first four Seekers by installing the dampening systems.

[Ffej]

I said right after the announcement that buying 4 prototype rides wasn't the wisest decision, especially after so many problems with prototype rides like Dragster and Shoot the Rapids. I was even more shocked when they purchased 2 more the next season, with the rides experiencing quite a few problems...definitely not enough time had passed to make that call. Anyway, here we are.

Personally, I think they should have shut them all down long ago with Cedar Point's major problem with the cables blowing out of the channel and getting mangled up. That looked far more severe and concerning. Why the media didn't get a hold of that but latched onto Knott's is odd, but I think the media pressure this time is part of the reason why they're all being shut down.

The saddest part is that I don't think too many will be upset by the WindSeekers being down. As long as they keep them lit up, the best asset of the ride will remain.

[TheBEASTunchained]

Is it just me, or does it seem like Six Flag's SkyScreamers brake down far, far less than Cedar Fair's WindSeekers?

[The Interpreter]

It's not just you.

To my knowledge the SIX rides have had no brake issues.

[TTD-120-420]

I honestly liked the ride. It was relaxing.

[The Interpreter]

Would you think the same if you were unexpectedly stuck up there for three hours and forty minutes?

[TTD-120-420]

Depends who is in the seat next to me.