Tragedy at Ohio state fair, 1 dead, 5 critical on fire ball ride, 26 July 2017

[AzPistonsGirl]

I'm not surprised by this news it is perfectly understandable. I feel so sorry for Tyler's family.

Any news on how the injured are doing?

absolutely. Insurance will pay.

 

[ninij9]

It being a State Fair I hope the families claim won't flounder for years in court. They will probably have to sure the State and the vendor and possibly the operator.

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[Satch]

So we have from witness accounts:

- ride was going too fast
- ride was going too low
- seats were shaking
- operator was fiddling with the controls, apparently unsuccessful to remedy whatever was going wrong

which led to

- two people (at least) being thrown out of their seats and harnesses (were these old harnesses that had not been replaced, similar to the water slide accident a while ago?)
- a row of four seats completely breaking out of the ride

It looks to me that possibly there were several factors coming together (as often is the case with such tragedies):

- the ride was not operating correctly, going too fast
- the operator was not able to do anything about it in time (possibly human error)
- the equipment (seat and harnesses) came apart due to either improper installation or fatigue, plus the stress of the increased speed.

What I have heard is that the swinging mechanism that holds the cars in place gave way to structural fatigue because of age and high speed, which caused the mechanism to snap under aging stress. How old was the Fireball ride at this Ohio fair? What is the span of life for these mechanical parts? At what point should they be replaced? I also understand that decreased regulation of rides of this type at these fairs poses elevated risks. Shockingly I read that the Department of Agriculture works with county officials regarding the inspection of these rides. Seriously, the Department of Agriculture?

I really hope that state funding can be better accessed to put qualified inspectors such as mechanical and structural engineers on the job who specialize in amusement park safety. Years ago, when I saw a show on the dangers of amusement park rides, one of the inspector teams was the same personnel that do elevator maintenance! These fair roadshows are not Six Flags or Disney, where I was telling my friend who lives in Ohio, personell like that work on inspecting those rides for many months, not days.

What was the time duration of the ride from when it started to where the gondola fell apart? How long is a normal ride on the fireball?

Satch

 

[Elainera]

i hope the ride operator who allegedly ran off was running to check on the folks who fell. I have to believe that...

Or running to get someone who is more experienced with the operation of the ride?

 

[osu]

As the two people fell, they did hit passengers in other seats. So I'm sure that accounts for some of the injuries.

I remember an interview on live local breaking news with a lady just about an hour after the accident happened. She said that she was standing, waiting beside the ride and when the people flew out, they were hitting people in the other carriages and landing in on top of them.

ETA: She also said that there were two Hispanic operators working on the ride just prior to the malfunction. She said they were down under one of the carriages and seemed to have taken some kind of part off?
They went back to the controls and started the ride out slowly (to test it) and then gave an "OK" sign to each other and turned it up. She said they were both speaking in Spanish and she couldn't understand what they were saying.

 

[Betty P]

Victim injured on malfunctioned ride at Ohio State Fair recalls the 'terrifying' incident


http://abcnews.go.com/US/victim-injured-malfunctioned-ride-ohio-state-fair-recalls/story?id=48906349

Hussein and his girlfriend, 20-year-old Hannah Sallee, were riding beside the car that came apart when they noticed the floor of their car lift up.

"I was like, 'That's not supposed to happen,'" she told ABC News. Then, the car next to them broke apart.

Coroner releases preliminary autopsy for teen killed at Ohio State Fair

http://nbc4i.com/2017/07/28/coroner-releases-preliminary-autopsy-for-teen-killed-at-ohio-state-fair/

Family of Ohio State Fair victim pursues wrongful death lawsuit

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...tim-pursues-wrongful-death-lawsuit/522148001/

 

[Betty P]

Interview with a ride expert who said it may have been some kind of structural fatigue

http://www.wcpo.com/news/state/state-ohio/amusement-park-expert-examines-video-of-ride-malfunction

 

[osu]

Photo appears to show crack on ride’s arm grew to catastrophic break

A closeup photograph of the severed metal spoke that failed, killing one man and injuring seven, appears to show that a critical weld holding the seats onto the ride’s arm may have cracked over time due to metal fatigue, according to one expert.

Photo:
http://www.dispatch.com/news/201707...crack-on-rides-arm-grew-to-catastrophic-break

 

[stormshine]

In the first video, it doesn't appear that the ride goes really that fast at all. Certainly not as fast as the one was going at the Ohio State fair.

The rotating part looks like it's free spinning compared to the other videos that have a controlled spin. Could be something in whatever coupling passes torque to the seats in the pendulum that was damaged.

 

[ninij9]

I'm interested in hearing more from the witnesses that saw the two workers that seemed to have been working on the ride just before it malfunctioned.

Also, an earlier article said the ride was inspected that morning. I'll bet it wasn't by a structural engineer, although they should be.

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[Satch]

I'm interested in hearing more from the witnesses that saw the two workers that seemed to have been working on the ride just before it malfunctioned.

Also, an earlier article said the ride was inspected that morning. I'll bet it wasn't by a structural engineer, although they should be.

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Can someone post a link to the above information please? I would be interested in hearing this witnesses' account.

Satch

 

[Akweks]

Photo appears to show crack on ride’s arm grew to catastrophic break

A closeup photograph of the severed metal spoke that failed, killing one man and injuring seven, appears to show that a critical weld holding the seats onto the ride’s arm may have cracked over time due to metal fatigue, according to one expert.

Photo:
http://www.dispatch.com/news/201707...crack-on-rides-arm-grew-to-catastrophic-break

The cracking seems it would be hard to miss. Was the electronic cowling covering it?

 

[Satch]

I remember an interview on live local breaking news with a lady just about an hour after the accident happened. She said that she was standing, waiting beside the ride and when the people flew out, they were hitting people in the other carriages and landing in on top of them.

ETA: She also said that there were two Hispanic operators working on the ride just prior to the malfunction. She said they were down under one of the carriages and seemed to have taken some kind of part off?
They went back to the controls and started the ride out slowly (to test it) and then gave an "OK" sign to each other a?nd turned it up. She said they were both speaking in Spanish and she couldn't understand what they were saying.

With regard to my previous post. Is this that referenced interview? I think their conversations will come out as this case unfolds.

Satch

 

[Meryl12]

I luckily dont like riding rides anymore but I sure rode them with my friends growing up. I dont think we ever thought about safety too much and we just expected everything to work right.

Thinking about it now I do think the traveling fairs where rides have to be taken down and put back up seem like the ones that would be a little more dangerous. But of course even at major theme parks with long time favorite attractions those can and do have issues too.

Luckily its a rare instance for these accidents but still is very scary.
I remember we talked about the two major incidents not long ago with the water slide and the raft type ride that killed people too.

I wonder what the odds are of an accident when factoring in all the different places. I would think it would have to be pretty rare but still when it happens to someone you know then statistics dont matter much.

Just so sad. Beefing up the inspections and enforcing them seems like the best way to help prevent future accidents. Gotta throw some money at this to make sure the operators and ride controllers do the best job they can to make them safe. And shut down a ride when it doesnt pass.
That seems to be the only real solution because I dont see these attractions going away.

It was the same when I was growing up.......we trusted that these rides and amusements were safe and everything was maintained and in perfect working order. How naive of us.....we were just lucky nothing failed while we were riding in the thing. I am absolutely certain all the people in the "Fire Ball Ride" also expected it to be in perfect working order.

 

[CARIIS]

The cracking seems it would be hard to miss. Was the electronic cowling covering it?

In aviation fatigue situtions fatigue is insidious. A load makes like a tiny split then at certain spot where the loading stresses the fracture that area it splits a tiny bit more

That can take a really long time, And then when the loading on the remaining area exceeds what the design loads are there is t total structural failure as the fracture expands and fails

There have been years of a fatigue fracture before loading has hit it is peak a tradegy

 

[Satch]

In aviation fatigue situtions fatigue is insidious. A load makes like a tiny split then at certain spot where the loading stresses the fracture that area it splits a tiny bit more

That can take a really long time, And then when the loading on the remaining area exceeds what the design loads are there is t total structural failure as the fracture expands and fails

There have been years of a fatigue fracture before loading has hit it is peak a tradegy

I read that the Ohio State Fair Fireball was built in 1998 and there was an updated add-on installed in 2002. I will try to find the URL to that article. In any event, that is an old ride. My question is what kind of background did the safety inspectors have for this particular ride? What are the qualifications to be an amusement park ride inspector in the state of Ohio? What type of training is involved?

It sounds, based on the crack in the arm mechanism, that this should have been an immediate indication that something was wrong, and this was for whatever reason, overlooked. This was not a "ride malfunction" nor do I think an "operator error." Although we don't know the qualifications of the ride operator. Even giving that person the benefit of the doubt, this appeared to be a structural or stress-related mechanical flaw, in a piece of equipment that I am going to say was old and had not been replaced for a long time, if ever.

Satch

 

[osu]

I'm interested in hearing more from the witnesses that saw the two workers that seemed to have been working on the ride just before it malfunctioned.

Also, an earlier article said the ride was inspected that morning. I'll bet it wasn't by a structural engineer, although they should be.

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I'll look for a video of that interview that I saw. It was a live feed though on NBC4 in Columbus.

 

[osu]

With regard to my previous post. Is this that referenced interview? I think their conversations will come out as this case unfolds.

Satch

I saw the interview on live local news around 8:30-9pm not long after the accident occurred. NBC4 in Columbus went live from the fair and was on air until after their 11pm news broadcast that evening. They had reporters at the fair interviewing people. Everyone was very upset and this lady had been standing right beside the ride when the accident occurred.

 

[ninij9]

At this point we do know whether it was an equipment malfunction, operator error, or a combination of both. I'm also concerned reading up thread that the Dept of Agriculture is responsible for these State Fair inspections. Silly me always assumed that structural engineers were employed to do that, especially considering how spectacularly bad a ride malfunction can be (rare or not). I mean I have read that amusement parks use maintenance workers for visual inspection but also employ engineers for scheduled maintenance. Here you have rides that literally travel from State to State and Im sure the dismantling and reconstructing of these rides over and over again adds the the stress on parts.

I don't know really where I'm going with this, except to say that unless sweeping changes are made, I don't see how they are going to stop the next accident down the line from happening.

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[JanetElaine]

In aviation fatigue situtions fatigue is insidious. A load makes like a tiny split then at certain spot where the loading stresses the fracture that area it splits a tiny bit more

That can take a really long time, And then when the loading on the remaining area exceeds what the design loads are there is t total structural failure as the fracture expands and fails

There have been years of a fatigue fracture before loading has hit it is peak a tradegy

In my opinion this is what likely happened. I was reading this article here and the manager said this about the inspections they do/have done: "We make sure all the pins and bolts and everything is where it is supposed to be."
That's good of course, but I don't think that's what happened in Ohio. I think it's more likely to have been a situation like CARIIS described above.