"Roller coaster fails in Illinois; riders stranded upside down for hours
(Saturday, April 18, 1998) - At Six Flags Great America Theme Park in Gurnee, Illinois, 23 riders on the Demon roller coaster were left stranded upside-down after the train in which they were riding stopped in the middle of a vertical loop. Firefighters used a cherry picker to bring the passengers to safety. Some riders were stuck for nearly three hours. Four passengers were treated at local hospitals and released.
Investigators concluded that the accident was caused by mechanical failure. The accident happened when a wheel that runs along the inside of the track broke off from the axle of the last car after a nut loosened. The ride's safety systems engaged, preventing the train from derailing.
The park has installed a new safety mechanism to the trains.
In 1986, 3 people were killed when a similar malfunction on a roller coaster in Canada caused a coaster train to derail."
I was there a week after that happened and Demon tested until midday. I didn't even think of going on it. I went on my first Eagle ride instead. But eventually, I went on Demon and got the smoothest, fastest ride i've had on it. Could it have been from that mechanical repair?
try reading through this forum again...it explains in the NEWS ARTICAL ABOVE!!!!
Investigators concluded that the accident was caused by mechanical failure. The accident happened when a wheel that runs along the inside of the track broke off from the axle of the last car after a nut loosened. The ride's safety systems engaged, preventing the train from derailing.
DejaVuGurl1203 wrote:Yeah that was on my 8th birthday but I never got to SFGAm til 2 years after that.
I was at PKI that day... my first theme park and first coaster rides ever. I remember getting back from Kings Island and seeing the Demon thing on the news... made me glad I never got to ride Vortex that day.
Timmy179 wrote:One of the ties had broken... which stretched the wheels apart when the track expanded... cuasing the wheel to deraill in a rather inconvienant spot.
Arrow had all the ties on all thier existing coasters at that time re-welded to the highest standards
That was Orient Express. And no action was taken afterwards. The tie broke due to internal corrosion/cracking that was not visible on the outside of the track.
On Demon a safety pin was left out in a bolt holding on one of the guide wheels on the last axle, letting the nut come loose and it lost the wheel, and the resulting impact tore off the entire rear axle dropping the last car of the train between the rails where it got wedged into place and it finally stopped at the point of the least momentum.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073