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Galactica: General Discussion

Each aspect of the restraint system can be released independently as far as I’m aware, including the flaps and the vests (if you look on the back of the row in front of you you’ll see a silver tab sticking out behind each seat, and also down the bottom near the leg flaps. This acts as the vest release).

While not done from the station op panel, the prime case for releasing flaps independently would be during an evac. The steps will be placed below the row, and the flaps released. Guests are then asked to stand on the top step and support their weight. At this point the harness is released and you essentially walk out of the seat bent over.

In normal operation a lot of the bits will try and coordinate themselves, but the station op can manually do things if needed. It’s an interesting ride system, in that the hosts (station ops) have just as much, if not more control over the ride than the main op!
 
Isnt the need for the leg flap restraint to be independent due to the chances of people not getting their legs in the right place.

Im sure there was once a bit of a furore because someone was dispatched with one leg not restrained.
 
What @Ben said. It was useful if the guests didn't have their feet in the correct place, which was more common than might be expected. You could just release the flaps and then redo them without redoing the actual harnesses.

The unlock harness button would also release the flaps.
 
Presumably the button on the station panel unlocks the leg flaps for the entire train so if there's an issue with one seat they'll open it locally as otherwise they'd have to do a full re-check.
 
No, the release flaps, latch, lock and unlock harness buttons operate on the row(s) that are selected on the panel.
 
I’ve always found it odd that the host has a panel with all this on, and why it was never just put on the main op panel. especially as the hosts are sometimes a bit confused as to what’s going on with the mm looking at the back host for more direction.

Can only assume because it was a worlds first they did it like that.

Do newer versions work the same? Or is that just the op who does it all now? I can’t think of many coasters where the host has such a big panel for the ride.
 
Maybe it's because of the twin stations? My guess would be that a single op controling both sides could accidently press the wrong button and release the wrong side. By outsourcing the restraint controls to the local platform host, that's one less thing for the op to worry about on what must have been a very complicated system for it's day (and no doubt still is).
 
It's worth noting that the two station panels are not operated by ride hosts, but "station operators". This means they're treated like ride operators and are required to undergo additional training, as well as being subject to stricter requirements (medical restrictions etc.). Compare this to the enabling panels on all the other coasters which are simply used by ride hosts, but are not considered "operating".

In fact the main operator does very little from a controls perspective, just dispatch and advance.

I'm not sure how they configure the flyers these days, but of course not all of them are dual station. I would imagine the dual stations have the same setup as Galactica.

Here is a panel from Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Great America, which is single station and has everything on the main panel:

thumb_img_3408_4.jpg
 
Alsty said:
It's worth noting that the two station panels are not operated by ride hosts, but "station operators". This means they're treated like ride operators and are required to undergo additional training, as well as being subject to stricter requirements (medical restrictions etc.). Compare this to the enabling panels on all the other coasters which are simply used by ride hosts, but are not considered "operating".

In fact the main operator does very little from a controls perspective, just dispatch and advance.

I'm not sure how they configure the flyers these days, but of course not all of them are dual station. I would imagine the dual stations have the same setup as Galactica.

Here is a panel from Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Great America, which is single station and has everything on the main panel:

thumb_img_3408_4.jpg
Click to expand...

It amazes me they still have complicated panels like this - surely new ones now must be far easier to operate
 
New one may be easer to op, but would you want to be the one to try and rewrire the old ones to install a new one
Would be a complete nightmare and the ride would probably never work again.
 
bluesonichd said:
New one may be easer to op, but would you want to be the one to try and rewrire the old ones to install a new one
Would be a complete nightmare and the ride would probably never work again.
Click to expand...

I would imagine if done by the manufacturer it wouldn’t be that difficult ( to them anyway )
 
Jb85 said:
It amazes me they still have complicated panels like this - surely new ones now must be far easier to operate
Click to expand...
It's not actually that complicated. You only need to use five buttons:
  1. All rows
  2. Latch
  3. (wait for hosts to close harnesses)
  4. Lock
  5. (wait for hosts to give hand signal etc.)
  6. Dispatch/Advance (dual control)
The other harness controls are only relevant to release rows, e.g. if you need to let somebody off the train. The panel on the right is for stopping or restarting the ride.

It's even easier when advancing the train in as the harnesses release automatically.
 
When VR was in use the restraints stayed locked until the goggles had been wiped, would that have required reprogramming or was it always an option?

Whilst only 5 buttons may have been required, it seems they have the option of doing things differently to re-complicate matters. I've heard the main op calling out specific rows for the station op to lock (generally ending with "lock them all"). I've also seen mention of doing the above sequence in a different order (pre-latch, or something to that effect). I'm sure someone's explained to me the difference between lock and latch and why there has to be two separate buttons but I can't remember why that might be.

All I know is that my preferred seat on GalacticAir is back row nearest station op, to be able to track the locking procedure.

Unrelated note on GalacticAir restraints, when I rode on saturday the vest itself never locked. Obviously the important parts were secure or the train couldn't have been sent, but it's wasn't particularly comfortable with all the extra space.
 
I’ve always assumed the station op selected the VR rows on the panel and held the lock button to prevent the VR rows from unlocking.
 
John said:
Whilst only 5 buttons may have been required, it seems they have the option of doing things differently to re-complicate matters.
Click to expand...
I only did Galactica a couple of times and didn't watch how they operated it. I always assumed they did it the same as Air.

The control panel is optimised for doing all rows together, but it does let you latch, lock and unlock in many different ways if you want to overcomplicate things and it seems like that's what they did.

John said:
I'm sure someone's explained to me the difference between lock and latch and why there has to be two separate buttons but I can't remember why that might be.
Click to expand...
A traditional harness has two states, unlocked and locked, and in the locked state you can always tighten the harness by pulling it towards you.

On Galactica, it has three states
  • Unlocked
  • Latched - the harness can be closed and will make that 'clicking' noise as it tightens. The harness can be pulled in towards you, but it cannot be pushed outwards
  • Locked - the harness cannot be pulled in or pushed out, and the vest locks too.
B&M seem to have simplified this again on their other coasters that use the vest restraints, such as the wing coasters. They've gone back to the old unlocked and locked concepts, but the lock button effectively just does the latch instead. The vests then lock automatically during dispatch, I believe. I don't know if the harness itself locks or if it still lets you pull it tighter like the classic harnesses.
 
Alsty said:
I only did Galactica a couple of times and didn't watch how they operated it. I always assumed they did it the same as Air.

The control panel is optimised for doing all rows together, but it does let you latch, lock and unlock in many different ways if you want to overcomplicate things and it seems like that's what they did.


A traditional harness has two states, unlocked and locked, and in the locked state you can always tighten the harness by pulling it towards you.

On Galactica, it has three states
  • Unlocked
  • Latched - the harness can be closed and will make that 'clicking' noise as it tightens. The harness can be pulled in towards you, but it cannot be pushed outwards
  • Locked - the harness cannot be pulled in or pushed out, and the vest locks too.
B&M seem to have simplified this again on their other coasters that use the vest restraints, such as the wing coasters. They've gone back to the old unlocked and locked concepts, but the lock button effectively just does the latch instead. The vests then lock automatically during dispatch, I believe. I don't know if the harness itself locks or if it still lets you pull it tighter like the classic harnesses.
Click to expand...
Nemesis and oblivion restraints are much looser than the smiler's. Is it just me or do the smiler harnesses get tighter as you go around?
 
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