FL - Tyre Sampson, 14, dies from fall on Free Fall Drop Tower ride, ICON Park, Orlando, Mar 2022 *graphic*

[jdglove]

bolding mine
Thank you. ^^^

I meant only the headrest being removed, as opposed to the entire seat ?
That was the portion that does not appear in the articles.
Some sources say the entire seat was removed; if true, this is wise and they need to know if something snapped off or was improperly fastened .

I am so sorry for this precious teen's family.
In my opinion only -- as I was not there, nor am I employed by the park -- the tragedy was preventable.
This is the most difficult part to accept, since it would appear from all of the articles posted here and in msm that his seat may not have been locked correctly.
A freak or random accident might be understandable, but not faulty light indicators or the v-shaped harness that might not have been checked ?
The latter would mean Tyre's death was preventable.

On the other hand, here's a thought : Is it possible that the light indicator was 'green' or 'on', showing that all of the restraints were properly secured -- but in reality one seat was not ?
If this is a likely scenario, the error would be on the manufacturer of the ride, and not the employees.
Again my two cent's worth.

Yes so so sad given how easily preventable.

I don't think they would remove any part unless it was obviously broken, and we know from their reports that wasn't the case. They announced they would be running many trials to see what failed and the forensics engineers would start by doing that with the ride exactly as it was.

Also the seat is a complex piece of machinery. It has not just a seat but it has the over shoulder harness, and it is designed to tip forward and back during the ride, and it has hydraulic/pneumatic instrumentation attached. You can look up patent designs for similar mechanisms. My point being that until you knew what failed, you probably wouldn't start removing random components for no reason.

 

[IceIce9]

bolding mine
Thank you. ^^^

I meant only the headrest being removed, as opposed to the entire seat ?
That was the portion that does not appear in the articles.
Some sources say the entire seat was removed; if true, this is wise and they need to know if something snapped off or was improperly fastened .

I am so sorry for this precious teen's family.
In my opinion only -- as I was not there, nor am I employed by the park -- the tragedy was preventable.
This is the most difficult part to accept, since it would appear from all of the articles posted here and in msm that his seat may not have been locked correctly.
A freak or random accident might be understandable, but not faulty light indicators or the v-shaped harness that might not have been checked ?
The latter would mean Tyre's death was preventable.

On the other hand, here's a thought : Is it possible that the light indicator was 'green' or 'on', showing that all of the restraints were properly secured -- but in reality one seat was not ?
If this is a likely scenario, the error would be on the manufacturer of the ride, and not the employees.
Again my two cent's worth.

 

[IceIce9]

bolding mine
Thank you. ^^^

I meant only the headrest being removed, as opposed to the entire seat ?
That was the portion that does not appear in the articles.
Some sources say the entire seat was removed; if true, this is wise and they need to know if something snapped off or was improperly fastened .

I am so sorry for this precious teen's family.
In my opinion only -- as I was not there, nor am I employed by the park -- the tragedy was preventable.
This is the most difficult part to accept, since it would appear from all of the articles posted here and in msm that his seat may not have been locked correctly.
A freak or random accident might be understandable, but not faulty light indicators or the v-shaped harness that might not have been checked ?
The latter would mean Tyre's death was preventable.

On the other hand, here's a thought : Is it possible that the light indicator was 'green' or 'on', showing that all of the restraints were properly secured -- but in reality one seat was not ?
If this is a likely scenario, the error would be on the manufacturer of the ride, and not the employees.
Again my two cent's worth.

Although I have never ridden that particular ride, similar rides that I have ridden have two safety checks before before the all clear is given to start the ride.

An electronic check - the light indicator showing green, meaning all seat restraints are secure.

A physical check - an employee going from seat to seat, physically pulling on each restraint to ensure each is properly secured.

If a physical check had been done on this ride- an employee pulling on the restraint to ensure it was locked in place - it would have been immediately obvious that it wasn’t properly locked in place.

MOO this tragedy was preventable.

 

[sds71]

Funeral services held for Tyre Sampson, teen killed on free-fall ride in Orlando

 

[Eloise]

Something similar just happened on a free-fall style ride at the Sydney Royal Easter Show (similar to large state fairs in the US); thankfully, this time the un-done harness was spotted early enough by onlookers for the ride to be stopped in time.

 

[PrairieWind]

Something similar just happened on a free-fall style ride at the Sydney Royal Easter Show (similar to large state fairs in the US); thankfully, this time the un-done harness was spotted early enough by onlookers for the ride to be stopped in time.

Holy cow that is unbelievable!!!
Rides can have all the safety designs in the world. Countries can have super strict safety laws. It all means nothing if the ride operators don't do their jobs.

 

[gregjrichards]

Holy cow that is unbelievable!!!
Rides can have all the safety designs in the world. Countries can have super strict safety laws. It all means nothing if the ride operators don't do their jobs.

I agree with you. I’m not saying this is always the case but in my experience of visiting amusement parks over the years the ride operators are often young, inexperienced, lack the ability and maturity to take have the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the women, men and/or children going on rides.

I can’t go on rides because of my spinal problems so I can observe my family going on them and the ride operators working. Most of the time the ride operators are in their late teens or university students working part time. Some of them appear to be distracted chatting and sometimes flirting with people of a similar age who are waiting in line to go on the ride, or texting on their phones when the ride is in operation, or distracted chatting away to ride operators working on other rides nearby about their plans for going out later or at the weekend and who they are dating or their mind appears to be somewhere else because they would rather be anywhere else but at work.

Sometimes they don’t appear to be doing anything but a quick glance at the riders on the ride before they start it. Not all the ride operators are like this and some do appear to be responsible and take the safety of the ride they are working on seriously.

The ride operators are probably earning a basic wage and are possibly not getting the sufficient training they need.

“A Facebook message post from Tyre’s mother, Nekia Dodd, read: “3/24/2022 is the day my life changed forever! No parent wants to receive news of their child’s passing over the phone AND in another state to make matters even worse.” Most of Dodd’s posts about the fatal incident at the park were met with hundreds of reactions and replies expressing their support and sadness over the child’s sudden death.

Attorneys representing Tyre’s parents visited ICON Park Tuesday morning and said the family plans on filing a negligence and product liability lawsuit in the coming weeks against the companies tied to the boy’s death. Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Tyre’s father Yarnell Sampson, told reporters the case was being handled as a “thorough investigation into the tragic killing of this 14-year-old child who should have never been killed.”

Family of 14-year-old boy who died at Orlando, Florida amusement park plans to file lawsuit as evidence of recklessness, endangerment surface

It is not surprising that Tyre’s family intend to file a negligence and product liability lawsuit in the coming weeks. I hope his family get the answers they need to the many questions they have about the devastating tragedy they have suffered. I’m sure they will not be satisfied with monetary compensation alone and I hope they are successful in getting the ride closed permanently.

If the ride is allowed to reopen it will cause Tyre’s family ongoing additional distress because they will have the constant worry that another person going on the ride will die and another family will suffer unbearable pain like they are. Even if the park owners and operators promised to implement additional safety measures before reopening the ride I don’t think it would be satisfactory to Tyre’s family.

 

[gregjrichards]

Terrifying video of fair employee pinned to ride floor for 15 MINUTES as he cried for help weeks after ICON Park tragedy

“A ride operator was caught in a ride at the Clay County Fair in Jacksonvilleon Friday according to NBC affiliate WLTV-TV.”

Terrifying vid of fair employee pinned to ride floor as he cried for help

It is a miracle that this poor ride worker in Jacksonville was not seriously injured or killed by the floor of the ride he was working on Friday.

The problem is tragedies can happen so easily at these theme parks in a split second due to human error, the ride operator being distracted, riders being allowed to ride when they do not meet the height and weight requirements specified by the ride manufacturer, mechanical malfunction and many other reasons.

I really hope more is done to ensure the safety of people going on rides and the workers operating them. Clearly not enough is being done to ensure safety and I hope this is addressed as a matter of urgency because it won’t be long before it is summer and the amusement parks are full of visitors.

 

[sds71]

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on Monday released a report, shedding light on the death of Tyre Sampson, 14, who fell from the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park on March 24.

The report revealed that the ride’s operator made manual adjustments, resulting in it being unsafe, Fried said.

She said adjustments were made to the “censor of the seat in question to allow the harness restraint opening to be almost double that of the normal restraint opening range.”

Fried said the adjustment allowed safety lights to “illuminate, improperly, satisfying the ride’s electronic safety mechanism that allowed the ride to operate, even tough Mr. Sampson was not properly secured in the seat
She said the ride will remain closed indefinitely as her office continues its investigation.

The next phases of the investigation will determine whether the operator will face any penalties and if any changes must be made to the state’s rules and regulations for rides, Fried said.

Report: Orlando FreeFall’s operator made manual adjustments to ride that made it unsafe

@MerrisBadcock
Per the report, Sampson was in 'Seat 1', the night he fell from Orlando Freefall, a 430 ft. drop tower at ICON Park. The report says the harness had been previously adjusted from a 3 in. gap, to a 6-7 in. gap. Sensors were also adjusted so the ride would still operate

Read the preliminary report here: https://bit.ly/3Md0WfR

 

[PayrollNerd]

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on Monday released a report, shedding light on the death of Tyre Sampson, 14, who fell from the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park on March 24.

The report revealed that the ride’s operator made manual adjustments, resulting in it being unsafe, Fried said.

She said adjustments were made to the “censor of the seat in question to allow the harness restraint opening to be almost double that of the normal restraint opening range.”

Fried said the adjustment allowed safety lights to “illuminate, improperly, satisfying the ride’s electronic safety mechanism that allowed the ride to operate, even tough Mr. Sampson was not properly secured in the seat
She said the ride will remain closed indefinitely as her office continues its investigation.

The next phases of the investigation will determine whether the operator will face any penalties and if any changes must be made to the state’s rules and regulations for rides, Fried said.

Report: Orlando FreeFall’s operator made manual adjustments to ride that made it unsafe

@MerrisBadcock
Per the report, Sampson was in 'Seat 1', the night he fell from Orlando Freefall, a 430 ft. drop tower at ICON Park. The report says the harness had been previously adjusted from a 3 in. gap, to a 6-7 in. gap. Sensors were also adjusted so the ride would still operate

Wow. Unbelievable. That type of adjustment, should have never, ever been an option. Particularly to overrule the safety sensor. Heartbreaking.

 

[Cherith.Barbieri]

Thanks for the update, @sds71 !
Always suspected something went terribly wrong as in non-accidental - as in a broken harness, or a faulty ride.
This was an adjustment that never should've been allowed.
Aka, this was preventable.
My .02.
Awful.

 

[PrairieWind]

Wow that is crazy. Need to know who exactly made the adjustments, when, and why.

 

[jdglove]

The implication is even more disturbing. The report says two seats, including seat #1 where Tyre was sitting were adjusted. So the other seats were apparently not adjusted unsafely to accommodate larger people. I infer that upon seeing Tyre's size they directed him to sit in the unsafely adjusted seat. If so, that's even more tragic for him. But it might reduce or eliminate responsibility on the part of the people operating the ride that day. And it might raise confidence that other installations of the same ride are safe so long as they weren't tampered with. Good to hear they are getting to the bottom of it!

 

[ZoriahNZ]

This sounds like the fault of the park management. When they say 'operator' in the manual, they basically mean the owners of the ride, not the min wage person working the ride that day. This has to be a decision from the higher ups to tamper electronically with 2 seats on the ride to override design safety protocols so that they could take larger patrons on the ride (on seats #1 & #2). That's criminal negligence, I'd wager. They chose greed over safety. JMO.

 

[LadyL]

Safety sensors on Florida free fall ride were manually adjusted in "unsafe" way before teen's fatal accident, report finds

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I'm sure we all hoped this was an honest tragic mistake. To hear it was deliberate altering of safety sensors by someone is horrifying.
I hope more information is released about how it was even possible to manually alter the sensors. Was it easy to make the "adjustment that had been made to the plate that houses the proximity sensors," or did someone have to start taking things apart with tools, in a clearly dangerous way?
Safety sensors on Florida free fall ride were manually adjusted in "unsafe" way before teen's fatal accident, report finds

 

[mpnola]

I can only speak from my experience when I was almost launched over las vegas, not this ride. But I told yall the guy went behind my seat and adjusted something! So here's the weird thing- it didn't feel on mine like getting bigger was the problem. It was that on the smaller setting, it locked, but didn't lock "down". In other words, I couldn't push it all the way up,but I could move it about 5 or 6 inches back and forth. They did not know I was not locked in. The ride operators face showed it. They went behind my seat to make it bigger to fit over my chest and then it locked securely. I dont know how it all works, but I am yet again feeling like the situation is more familiar than I would like.

 

[rebelchild]

I can only speak from my experience when I was almost launched over las vegas, not this ride. But I told yall the guy went behind my seat and adjusted something! So here's the weird thing- it didn't feel on mine like getting bigger was the problem. It was that on the smaller setting, it locked, but didn't lock "down". In other words, I couldn't push it all the way up,but I could move it about 5 or 6 inches back and forth. They did not know I was not locked in. The ride operators face showed it. They went behind my seat to make it bigger to fit over my chest and then it locked securely. I dont know how it all works, but I am yet again feeling like the situation is more familiar than I would like.

Same exact thing in my situation .. except I have no chest and was probably around 130 lbs at the time. I'm not sure why mine didn't make it all the way down before it locked in place .. but it was the scariest thing of my life trying to get someones attention.

 

[rudegirl]

Same exact thing in my situation .. except I have no chest and was probably around 130 lbs at the time. I'm not sure why mine didn't make it all the way down before it locked in place .. but it was the scariest thing of my life trying to get someones attention.

We have no idea what rides or restraints you are referring to. As far as the FreeFall ride at ICON Park, SingShot Group is the responsible party. They made “manual adjustments to the ride resulting in it being unsafe” and allowed the harness’ restraint opening to be “almost double” of the normal opening range. That’s terrifying.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

We have no idea what rides or restraints you are referring to

I think her point is that rides should not be able to run if the restraint isn't properly locked.
But she almost experienced it herself. It doesn't matter which ride/restraint IMO.

I agree the main responsible party in this case is the one who made the "adjustments," but just how easy was it? If it was pretty easy to tamper with - again I ask, why? You have to keep user-error-and-tomfoolery in mind when designing products. (My opinion only, and I don't know what was involved/done in this case.)