Whenever I ride IW, you see this black thing that spins right before the chain let's go of the train. Does that help predict the wind velocity? There used to be one around Triple Play too. That had one of those on Galaxi at Santa's Village before also.
Another question I have is that since Am E and Viper are wooden, do these rollercoasters have any protective covering that would deal with lightning? If lightning strikes, wouldn't it start a fire and burn down?
That brings me to my last question. Has any ride at SFGAm been struck by lightning? I heard this year that SFOG Acrophobia was actually struck, and they still have to fix it up.
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Weather Questions
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"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
American Eagle was this year(struck by lightning) and it opened soon after.
Yes, usually those spinning black things are wind gagues, to help the operator known when he/she can safely run the ride.
And I bet every ride has been struck, they are all grounded however, so when they are struck, nothing is supposed to happen. The energy all dissapates into the ground. Hence the large cables you see on the footers going from the steel into the ground. Licensed Mechanical Engineer
If AE or Viper got struck all we could see is a black mark probably.
Top 5 wood-5-Goliath 4-Ravine Flyer II 3-Phoenix 2-Voyage 1-El Toro
Top 5 Steel- 5-Velocicoaster 4- Maverick 3- Fury 325 2-Steel Vengeance 1-X2 Coaster Count: 444
If only someone had a picture of the coaster being hit... That'd be awesome.
bush sucks
OOoooo. Weather. The thing is called an annomometer (sp?) and it is used to measure winds. There is also one on top of Condor and another one near park ops. I also believe they have a lightning detector (white cylander on a pole) near park ops.
Lightning in rainy thinderstorms rarely start intense fires. Houses catch fire because lightning shorts out the wiring and the rubber burns (in a dry environment) or the attick lights up. Lighting rods and grounding cables keep all the rides safe.
Look at the footers of any steel coaster (particularly Raging Bull) and you will notice steel cables that go from the poles to the ground. You also see similar cables at the stairs that lead up to American Eagle's Red Side (I'm not sure about Blue). Those are the grounding cables that help direct the current safely to the ground.
All the tall rides have lightning rods. And all the wooden coasters have this protective sealent to make sure if one part burns, it cant get to another part.
On BTR, the lightning rod is in the middle of the two signs with the batman logos.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
Do you know that for sure or is that just a fake one?
No, I'm not sure, but why else would put something that looks like a lightning rod up there. It's not that appealing to have a metal pole up there.
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
I don't know if it is a real one or not, but they may put it up there because B:TR is industrial themed. The whole outside of the station is metal so the rod blends in.
I always notice Eagle's lightning rods. There are a ton of them all along the helix if you look.
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