ICON Park

[Freak]

Horrific. Nobody should go out like that. Certainly not that young and on vacation with his family nonetheless. My sincerest condolences to the family and all who were there to witness this.

It will never reopen. This happened in front of dozens of people, and was captured on video by multiple people. The ride is brand new and already has a completely ruined legacy. Icon Park will be sued for all they have, and they will deserve it. Given that this is a shopping mall, a bunch of businesses will pull out due to not wanting to be associated with the ride. The future of Icon Park isn't looking very great.

Well I will say that, unless they make absolutely sure that this will never happen again with new safety protocols, even then I don't feel comfortable going on this ride. And this is coming from someone who is generally pretty trusting of ride safety in general. I can only imagine the rest of the general population will feel the same way. I'm baffled how they allowed such a severe design flaw in the restraints to fall through the cracks (At least so I've heard).

Someone tragically fell working on this ride a year ago if I recall. Icon park has established an infamous legacy at this point and I don't see how they will ever be able to recover, especially from the inevitable lawsuits. Even if businesses don't pull out, I think you'll see them suffer from lack of attendance.

Horrible stuff.

 

[Magic-Man]

Horrific. Nobody should go out like that. Certainly not that young and on vacation with his family nonetheless. My sincerest condolences to the family and all who were there to witness this.


Well I will say that, unless they make absolutely sure that this will never happen again with new safety protocols, even then I don't feel comfortable going on this ride. And this is coming from someone who is generally pretty trusting of ride safety in general. I can only imagine the rest of the general population will feel the same way. I'm baffled how they allowed such a severe design flaw in the restraints to fall through the cracks (At least so I've heard).

Someone tragically fell working on this ride a year ago if I recall. Icon park has established an infamous legacy at this point and I don't see how they will ever be able to recover, especially from the inevitable lawsuits. Even if businesses don't pull out, I think you'll see them suffer from lack of attendance.

Horrible stuff.

I believe the other accident was on the Starflyer. Which proves even more that this is on Icon Park, not just a tragic accident. What a shitshow. I know for a fact I'm not going back.

 

[DK745]

have they said what was wrong with the restraint?

 

[Vyrus]

I believe the other accident was on the Starflyer. Which proves even more that this is on Icon Park, not just a tragic accident. What a shitshow. I know for a fact I'm not going back.

The starflyer accident was an employee climbing up to do safety checks and he slipped and fell, wasn't anyone on the ride itself.

 

[Brian G.]

have they said what was wrong with the restraint?

still determining that.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Absolutely horrible. My hearts are out to the young man and his family, as well as the friend's family that were both effected. I also feel incredibly bad for the ride operators who will have to deal with the trauma of this situation for the rest of their lives, regardless of whether they are responsible or not. I've worked dispatch before and all of those kids are 25 and under doing the absolute best they can, I couldn't imagine having that weight on my shoulders.

From what I can gather, Tyre Sampson was a 14-year old from Missouri who wanted to grow into professional NFL. He participated in middle school football and was described as a "humble giant" by his coach. He was going into High School this fall.

Between this incident and the tragedy at Skyflyer, it creates a precedent of some malpractice at Icon/SlingShot Group. Whether that be regular worker error, lack of training or procedure to check for malfunctions, ineffective tools or safeguards to stop issues from arising or getting worse. Something needs to be changed here before another tragedy occurs. No one deserves go to work not knowing if they'll make it home that night, and no family should be worried about leaving with one less passenger on the car ride home, and neither should have to deal with all of that because of something as inconsequential and unimportant as amusement park rides.

 

[JoeCamel]

CBS evening news just showed video up through him falling. What is wrong with people??
Screenshot of the start shows me the restraint was not fully down on his shoulders and lots of space at the bottom, why not a center tether??

 

[GAcoaster]

It will never reopen. This happened in front of dozens of people, and was captured on video by multiple people. The ride is brand new and already has a completely ruined legacy. Icon Park will be sued for all they have, and they will deserve it. Given that this is a shopping mall, a bunch of businesses will pull out due to not wanting to be associated with the ride. The future of Icon Park isn't looking very great.

Too soon to tell. The rides are only loosely associated with Icon Park and people's memories are short.

I grew up in New Jersey and remember people writing off Six Flags Great Adventure after the Haunted Castle fire (which killed 8 people), followed by the Lightning Loops accident, then shootings and stabbings in the park (first park in the world to install metal detectors at the gate back in 1987). If they can bounce back, so can Icon Park.

The problem is the accident makes all of Orlando look bad/unsafe because people hear Orlando and have no idea that everything isn't Disney.

 

[Evan]

Oh my god. Horrific. Why is that on Twitter?! Poor child.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Too soon to tell. The rides are only loosely associated with Icon Park and people's memories are short.

I grew up in New Jersey and remember people writing off Six Flags Great Adventure after the Haunted Castle fire (which killed 8 people), followed by the Lightning Loops accident, then shootings and stabbings in the park (first park in the world to install metal detectors at the gate back in 1987). If they can bounce back, so can Icon Park.

The problem is the accident makes all of Orlando look bad/unsafe because people hear Orlando and have no idea that everything isn't Disney.

There have been many incidents where accidents have happened in front of people and the rides re-opened after modifications. But wouldn't be surprised if the operators go bankrupt. (These deaths are very rare and are usually operator error - I think there have been 3 or 4 total out of millions riding).

 

[anihilnation]

Does anyone know if this ride indeed tilts the seats, as I thought that was just a regular drop. From what I can tell by the restraint and what I heard, it seems to be the case that the boy slipped underneath through the restraint. If the seats indeed tilt, then those restraints seem rather unsafe to me.

 

[Magic-Man]

Does anyone know if this ride indeed tilts the seats, as I thought that was just a regular drop. From what I can tell by the restraint and what I heard, it seems to be the case that the boy slipped underneath through the restraint. If the seats indeed tilt, then those restraints seem rather unsafe to me.

It tilts, I've ridden this before. It tilts maybe about 30 degrees or so.

 

[devinp267]

6'4 340! There is no way this boy should've been on that ride. I am mortified by this. Seems like design flaw being I read that it doesn't even operate if the restraints aren't cleared. What a terrible vacation.

 

[Mad Dog]

One of the articles I read said that he had been denied other rides that day due to his size. The investigation may well end up revealing why he was let on the ride and whether the harness was actually completely, not just partially, engaged.

 

[Tobias]

While I'll agree it's too soon to tell what'll eventually happen with the ride, looking at past recent incidents elsewhere this may be akin to the Haunted Mine Drop at Glenwood Caverns which was operator error. At the moment, that ride has yet to reopen, and the place has certainly taken a hit in the public image and they're probably hoping their brand-new coaster will ease things. ICON doesn't have one waiting in the wings, as the drop tower *was* the brand-new ride.

 

[fryoj]

Maybe I'm not understanding the safety mechanisms in place, but I thought these things had sensors that told the computer that the seats were locked and the ride wouldn't operate if all of the seats weren't locked. If the sensor said the seat was locked and the ride cycled, I'm not sure how this could be an operator error. Well, assuming it's not an override situation, but god help the operators if they did that.

So, that means we are at design flaw or mechanical failure. For everyone's sake, we can hope it's mechanical failure, but with the pics I've seen, I think it's going to be a poor design if the ride allowed it to cycle with the bar that far from the seat.

 

[Tobias]

Maybe I'm not understanding the safety mechanisms in place, but I thought these things had sensors that told the computer that the seats were locked and the ride wouldn't operate if all of the seats weren't locked. If the sensor said the seat was locked and the ride cycled, I'm not sure how this could be an operator error. Well, assuming it's not an override situation, but god help the operators if they did that.

If there is a safety system in place and it brings up an issue, generally the ride is not going to dispatch unless it's overridden/restarted by ops. Which is exactly what happened on Smiler at Alton Towers and Haunted Mine Drop at Glenwood Caverns in their respective incidents, hence why both were operator error.

 

[Freak]

One of the articles I read said that he had been denied other rides that day due to his size. The investigation may well end up revealing why he was let on the ride and whether the harness was actually completely, not just partially, engaged.

I wonder if this was a flaw in the mechanism or if this was a manual override (which I hope that’s not the case). If they did a manual override of a safety mechanism…..that’s not good.

 

[GAcoaster]

WESH 2 had audio of the ride crew talking to each other (picked up on one of the videos) and they kept reiterating the harnesses were all showing closed on the system.

 

[OLSinFLA]

While I'll agree it's too soon to tell what'll eventually happen with the ride, looking at past recent incidents elsewhere this may be akin to the Haunted Mine Drop at Glenwood Caverns which was operator error. At the moment, that ride has yet to reopen, and the place has certainly taken a hit in the public image and they're probably hoping their brand-new coaster will ease things. ICON doesn't have one waiting in the wings, as the drop tower *was* the brand-new ride.

There have been 4 fatalities on a drop ride since they first opened. One was torn down, one reopened and is still operating, one remans closed due the park unable to afford parts, and the one. (The Glenwood's Caverns is technically not a drop ride, more akin to ToT as its not a full free fall).

If there is a safety system in place and it brings up an issue, generally the ride is not going to dispatch unless it's overridden/restarted by ops. Which is exactly what happened on Smiler at Alton Towers and Haunted Mine Drop at Glenwood Caverns in their respective incidents, hence why both were operator error.

The restraint was locked and given a green light. But the restraint wasn't designed for that shape of body, which is why these rides need to be VISUALLY checked as well. This particular company has had free falls installed since 2015 and this is their first accident. The one thing seatbelts would have prevented was being able to connect it, as it wasn't down far enough. That being said, the fatal one with the 10 year old in California did have seatbelts and he somehow slipped out anyways (no conclusion was ever reached other than it didn't malfunction and the operators had checked).