This reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin asks his dad how they know what weight a bridge can take. The dad says "they drive trucks over it until it breaks, and then they rebuild it at that weight capacity."
It's obvious that the only reason this was built was to break records. So really, even with the mess that was the design, all of this could have been avoided had it simply been a drop.
Quick recap for those too lazy to read:
-The slide was made on a bet by Jeff Henry with the Travel Channel.
-The length of design for optimal safety would be at least 3-6 months, and with at least two professional dynamic engineers. They designed it in 36 days with no professional dynamic engineers.
-Even after the re-design, a week before its grand opening, rafts that MET THE WEIGHT REQUIREMENTS went airborne.
-Reports of riders going airborne and getting injured--which happened many times, mainly in the form of serious head and neck injuries--were repeatedly hidden by management.
-The rafts had to be repeatedly taped up--the raft that the kid died in was especially problematic. It was repeatedly taken out of circulation, but would inevitably enter back in WITHOUT STAFF DISCOVERING THE CAUSE OF MALFUNCTION.
-Critical systems often failed, but were repaired only when it was needed to keep guests flowing through. Maintenance workers ignored the braking system (the material on the slide to slow it down--see at bottom of page) completely eroding IN THE DAYS LEADING UP TO THE INCIDENT.
-Three weeks before the incident, one of the seasonal managers flagged the brake system as a "priority level 1"; rides given a "level 1" are not supposed to operate. The executive with the power to close the ride, Tyler Miles, ignored this warning.
-Eight reports that the brake system had failed were submitted to Miles IN THE THREE WEEKS FOLLOWING. No action.
