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Skyhawk accident @ CP


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A friend of mine is reporting on Facebook that a cable snapped on Skyhawk at Cedar Point tonight and that there are injuries. Anybody here know if this is true or have a link to more information?

(EDIT: Removed the question mark from the title, now that this has been confirmed.)

Edited by jcgoble3
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Wow, this is horrible.

Now the latest is 2 injuries, with one of them being a broken leg. Apparently riders onboard were freaking out when it happened according to people who were there. Very scary. And that really smashed out that piece of fence...crazy. Thankfully it wasn't during the day since usually a lot of people stand right around that spot, but I'm not sure if there were people hit by flying fence pieces. Thankfully none of the injuries are life threatening.

I really love Skyhawk but do you think it could be on its way out due to all its incidents, especially this one?

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The Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter is now posting at Pointbuzz, asking for information.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, do NOT tell me that media doesn't use these sites to get information.

They do.

And part of the reason is the parks' own actions, partly on the advice of learned counsel. After something like this, the parks and information are typically locked tighter than a drum.

Then, rampant, wild speculation sets in, about which those same parks then complain.

A lack of information feeds wild speculation. More openness in bad times could go far to feed a better media environment in those times.

A reporter has to go to Pointbuzz for information. Imagine, her source could end up being a 13 year old kid in Elyria who wasn't there last night and who was last at the park when he was 6.

Or, the park could release more details.

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Double edged sword.

Release info that may not be 100% accurate because the investigation is in the infantile stages, then the park looks incompetent.

The park cannot control what the media does. If anything, blame social media & the incessant desire for many to want to know all details right now.

The media constantly screws up amusement park info & creates drama when there is none. If the park released more detailed info, it would not stop media outlets from searching fan sites.

We can only hope that whatever writer is searching for info, they have enough experience to weed through the bullcrap.

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Double edged sword is right. The parks promote social media...Like Us On Facebook...Follow Us On Twitter...Post Your Video on YouTube. They create a sense of total openness and familiarity that may well be only a manufactured facade.

Then, when things get bad, they clam up.

They'd best not complain when information is "created" for them.

You can channel information, control the message, and get out what you want out.

Or you can let things happen to you.

The latter is seldom a good choice.

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Using social media for promotions is one thing, expecting it to be used the same way for a serious incident is another.

If the park released details, it could quite cause even more of a media frenzy, only to find out the info released to be grossly inaccurate. Then there is respect for those injured & not knowing the extent of the injuries.

Not releasing details before a proper investigation has been conducted is the only responsible act any entity can do 13 hours in and is, by far, the lesser of two evils as there is no way to predict what a media entity will do.

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^ Most guests don't know anything about the mechanics of the attractions they ride.

The media needs to be responsible with what it reports as "news". Verbatim interviews with random people usually wouldn't qualify.

Somehow an eyewitness report of the Texas Giant incident claiming that the victim's lapbar "only clicked once" comes to mind...

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The Ride kept swinging..no duh..the ride was e stopped and that knocks out all power and there aren't brakes..

Idiot

Surprising there's not an off-line backup braking mechanism.

I'm sure it was terrifying for the guest to wait until the swing naturally stopped.

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The Ride kept swinging..no duh..the ride was e stopped and that knocks out all power and there aren't brakes..

Idiot

Ironically, Dave Althoff, Jr., just posted elsewhere that standards now require that e-stops on rides manufactured after June 2014 stop all hazardous ride movement at once, not just cut power.

I'd say that idiot characterization of yours is unduly harsh.

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I have a ton of memories of Tomb Raider e-stopping after the lava scene and swinging freely for a few minutes, ten feet forward, nine feet back, eight forward, seven back, until it was swinging mere inches back and forth... Still you just sat and waited for it to stop completely so the bridges could come down. Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong. The ride's working homing process was pretty laborious too. Hahah.

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