[Chris]

Heres a news article on the story... <a href='http://www.wlky.com/news/13547817/detail.html' target='_blank'>http://www.wlky.com/news/13547817/detail.html</a>

Due to this horrible accident at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Will Drop Zone be closed?
The Superman Tower of Power as well as Drop Zone were both built by Intamin. Will they close all Intamin Drop Towers till they figure out what caused this accident?

[bgwfreak]

No Drop Zone will not be closed.

Carowinds actually maintains their drop tower.

Crappy Kingdom apparantly did not.

I can almost guarantee you that it was one of the cables that pulls you up and that the maintenance department didn't do their job and check it.

That's not Intamin's fault.

[Chris]

I never thought it was Intamin's fault, but you know how parks seem to react. When that kid fell out of a drop tower a couple of years back, they closed a lot of them down for a while.

[TheSeaWhippet]

<a href='http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/NEWS01/306220021' target='_blank'>http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...EWS01/306220021</a>

According to the above article, Kings Island has closed their version. Here's a quote from the piece:

"The Kings Island Drop Zone ride is one of five across the country that will be shut down so the parent company can conduct a thorough inspection, Craig Ross, Cedar Fair LP vice president of marketing, said this morning."

[bgwfreak]

Weird. And that's not even the same type of model.

Kings Island's is a roto drop, not the old school Gen. 2.

[Jonathan]

It's pretty standard practice for that to happen after an accident. I'm sure all Intamin drop rides in the country will be closed until they figure out exactly what happened.

[coasterbruh]

No Drop Zone will not be closed. <span style='color:red'>IIINNKKKKK Tell him what he woulda won...</span>

Carowinds actually maintains their drop tower.

Crappy Kingdom apparantly did not. <span style='color:red'>IIIIINNNNNKKKK that has yet to be proven Tell him what he woulda won...</span>

I can almost guarantee you that it was one of the cables that pulls you up and that the maintenance department didn't do their job and check it. <span style='color:red'>INNNKKKKK see above</span>

That's not Intamin's fault. <span style='color:red'>IIIIINNNNNKKKKKKKK sure it is!</span>

Only speak the truth... or wait until its printed lol!

[bgwfreak]

^ Well what is half of your posts then?

[buschgardenseuropefan]

All Six Flags and Cedar Fair drop towers are being shut down for inspections.

[KenB]

They just had a segment on the WCNC news on this accident, and about Drop Zone being closed because of this. They brought up the BORG Assimilator mishap earlier this year, and mentioned some accidents elsewhere such as the X-Coaster in Alabama getting stuck when the power went out.

It wasn't as sensationalized as I feared and was mostly well done. They interviewed a woman from Boston outside the park who had heard about the accident before getting on the plane to come here. She said she wasn't allowing her kids to ride Drop Zone, but sounded reasonable about it - she seemed to think that DZ was safe and that this was a freak accident, but she wouldn't want her kids to ride until they had figured out what the problem was and had fixed it. I'm not so sure I'd ride it myself until we hear the exact cause and more details.

The only part came at the end - the reporter said that during Carowinds' precautionary inspection of DZ, they said they found a frayed cable. A bit surprising, both in them finding a potential problem and telling the media.

I imagine that they'll find frayed cables on some others as well.. There might be modifications needed to these rides, or that at the very least the inspection procedures for these rides will change a good bit to do more detailed inspections more often.

On one hand I think this is probably a maintenance / inspection issue and just a 1-in-a-million freak accident in things happening the way they did. Usually these things have multiple causes, not just one. On the other hand, I can't say that I was surprised since Intamin designed the ride. Parts break on B&M's - or they collide with birds - and people walk off alive and with all their parts intact. I don't think Intamin ignores safety, but it does seem that one of their rides manages to toss a rider every year, and now this.

KenB

[swampfox43]

^THINNER THAN NORMAL CABLES WERE FOUND DURING INSPECTION ON DROP ZONE TODAY!

<a href='http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/170442.html' target='_blank'>http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/170442.html</a>

[coasterdave]

I see where noone can blame this on Intamin at all. The maintenance is the responsibility of each park. Since this ride was put in 1995 , if my memory serves me, then the cable in question had to have been replaced many times by the park maintenance department. So for once, Intamin AG might not have nothing to do with this one.

Guess this goes to show us that maybe the routine that afew parks use in inspecting these rides need to be changed.

[coasterbruh]

No Drop Zone will not be closed.

Carowinds actually maintains their drop tower.

^THINNER THAN NORMAL CABLES WERE FOUND DURING INSPECTION ON DROP ZONE TODAY!

<a href='http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/170442.html' target='_blank'>http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/170442.html</a>

I sooo couldn't resist wes LOL LOL!

[Jonathan]

I don't think you can just blame one side here. That's the way it works, though. Everybody needs a scapegoat.

Obviously we don't know what happened yet. But, if the cable snapped and wrapped around her legs and then the car dropped, then Intamin could have easily built in a safety system for it. Did anyone ever imagine such an accident happening? Obviously not, but it wouldn't be that hard to put tension sensors in the pull car for each of those cables. If a cable snaps the tension instantly drops to zero and the sensor triggers an e-stop.

Like I said, though, I don't think anyone knows exactly what happened yet.

[Trev32]

They just had a segment on the WCNC news on this accident, and about Drop Zone being closed because of this. They brought up the BORG Assimilator mishap earlier this year, and mentioned some accidents elsewhere such as the X-Coaster in Alabama getting stuck when the power went out.

I've been out of the loop too long, what was the BORG incident?

This is a really sad story. I feel so bad for that girl.