• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Ride/Park Accidents

Updated article, 2 hospitalised, 9 others treated at scene, and it is confirmed as Danters City Flyer.

Reports that ride has descended while in operation ar speed, we've seen before that the gondolas collide with platform structures when that's happened and that is consistent with the tangled dondallas pictued draped over the platform lighting rig.

www.bbc.co.uk

Woman in hospital as Birmingham fair ride 'dropped to ground'

The 55m-tall ride "failed and crashed", emergency services say.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
I've worked closely with various members of the Danter family over the years and had this exact ride at some of my events; It was last here a few months back - super popular but not for me Jeff! Always found them to be cooperative, especially when it comes to additional saftey requests, extra paperwork & they're extremely thorough in their own saftey practices; I'll be very interested to know what caused this incident. Sometimes you read about these travelling fair accidents and 'poor practices' 'cut corners' spring to mind - I'd be legitimately shocked if that was the case here.

A real shame for all involved, that'll stick with them for a while I'm sure. Hoping everyone makes a full recovery 😔
 
pluk said:
More detailed account of what happened. Sounds like it went into reverse then descended some way before falling towards the end. Very odd.

www.bbc.co.uk

Injured woman's terror after Birmingham fairground ride crash

Louise Brown says the incident, which left her with several injuries, must "never happen again".
www.bbc.co.uk
Click to expand...
Eyewitness accounts can always be sometimes dubious. The word “collapsed” has been in some headlines.

This isn’t a particularly useful eyewitness account.

Amelie Huet, 18, was in the ice skate bar nearby with a group of friends at the time.

She told the BBC she went out to the balcony when she heard sirens and saw ambulances, police cars and fire engines.
 
IDB said:
Eyewitness accounts can always be sometimes dubious. The word “collapsed” has been in some headlines.

This isn’t a particularly useful eyewitness account.

Amelie Huet, 18, was in the ice skate bar nearby with a group of friends at the time.

She told the BBC she went out to the balcony when she heard sirens and saw ambulances, police cars and fire engines.
Click to expand...

The account I referenced from the article is from one of the inured riders, so while not gospel they are probably just about the best placed person to provide a witness account!

"We were on it having fun and then it just crashed to the ground," she said.

"It went backwards first though, which I've never seen it do before."

She said it felt like the ride was descending but was "still quite high" before it dropped and she "felt pain".
 
I’ve been on this exact ride in Birmingham a few years back and this is the only kind of rides that scare me. I still can’t wrap my head around what and how it’s actually happened through?

I did spot that the op box/booth is covered in tarpaulin though.
 
Excalibur said:
I’ve been on this exact ride in Birmingham a few years back and this is the only kind of rides that scare me. I still can’t wrap my head around what and how it’s actually happened through?

I did spot that the op box/booth is covered in tarpaulin though.
Click to expand...
that is probably to prevent people messing with the ops panel (not sure if the fair rides do, but often there is a logging feature tracking what the ride is doing)

it reminds me of the incident with vortex where the operator messed with the electronics and it caused the ride to start when unloading/loading,

not saying the operator purposely did anything with the electronics, it just seems like an electrical problem as I wouldn't imagine it would be designed to be able to reverse midway through the program.
 
On this type of ride are the gondolas raised by wire with the central column fixed?

I was trying to get my head around how anything could "crash to the ground" as I'd imagined the lifting gear was pnumatic which would limit the rate of descent - though I'd have thought that even a steel cable pulley system would have some sort of limiter on it?
 
Depends on the manufacturer. The Funtime variants have a fixed central column with the gondolas rotating around it, whereas the KMG (and I think the Zamperla and a few others) rotate the tower itself and the gondola just moves up and down.
 
Just a quick note to ask people to be mindful when speculating about the reasons for the arrests. As an arrest can potentially lead to charges, please avoid discussing anything that may prejudice this.

Speculation in general about the reasons for the ride failing, the manufacturer and its mechanics/controls are fine to an extent, but please avoid speculating about the reasons for the arrests or referring to the individuals. Thanks.
 
I’m not sure how these things work but I know Danters are quite reputable with there attractions with them owning Air, 2 Wild Mouses now and Star Flyer. At one point they owned a Log Flume too but not sure what’s happened to this now.

Do we reckon they’ll just get rid of the Star Flyer probably try flogging it abroad and go with something else, to avoid association with the ride?

Also, they currently hold the Christmas event every year and run the ice skating for Birmingham City Council, do we think the council will review this next year because of the accident and potentially just let them have the ice rink instead of rides?
 
Excalibur said:
I’m not sure how these things work but I know Danters are quite reputable with there attractions with them owning Air, 2 Wild Mouses now and Star Flyer. At one point they owned a Log Flume too but not sure what’s happened to this now.

Do we reckon they’ll just get rid of the Star Flyer probably try flogging it abroad and go with something else, to avoid association with the ride?

Also, they currently hold the Christmas event every year and run the ice skating for Birmingham City Council, do we think the council will review this next year because of the accident and potentially just let them have the ice rink instead of rides?
Click to expand...

We're going to need to know a lot more about what happened and why it happened before any of those sorts of questions can be answered. They may well have done absolutely nothing wrong.

There are so many star flyers about, and I doubt the public will hold on to any particular recall of this incident after a short while, I imagine the ride will continue to be used. There are plenty of machines on the circuit that have had incidents far worse than this that were big news at the time.
 
Excalibur said:
Also, they currently hold the Christmas event every year and run the ice skating for Birmingham City Council, do we think the council will review this next year because of the accident and potentially just let them have the ice rink instead of rides?
Click to expand...
We don’t know exactly what happened to cause this incident so it’s impossible to start making predictions about what may or may not happen because of its. Let’s wait until the facts emerge or the results of an investigation are announced before we start jumping up conclusions about the repercussions of it. As said already arrests have been made so let’s see how this develops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top