Giant Drop during a power outage

by **twixmix0303** on August 20th, 2005, 9:00 pm

If there was a power outage and the cars are in the center of the tower going towards the top when the power goes out, they would obviously get stuck there. Would maintenance manually release the brakes at the top, so that the car and catchcar slowly go back down to earth, or manually release the car from the catchcar's L hook, so that the car drops like it regularly would? I'm not sure if anyone on the boards actually knows, but hopefully someone does!

by **rich12_16** on August 20th, 2005, 9:41 pm

The Hellevator, at SFKK, broke down once, the car was empty, but it just lowered slowly. It happened during testing, after a breakdown.

by **sixflagsguy5** on August 20th, 2005, 11:58 pm

That was probably a ride stop. I'm not really sure how the brakes work. I know that they're magnetic, but I don't know if they are able to turn on and off. They are failproof, so I'm guessing that they are not electronically powered.

by **twixmix0303** on August 21st, 2005, 12:28 am

Those are the regular brakes at the bottom that stop the fall. I'm talking about the brakes at the motor on top. They act as the anti-rollbacks for the catchcar. The catchcar can only go down when they are released. Sky Trek Tower works the same way. During a power outage there, maintenance had to go up to the top and manually release the brakes. The counterweight system takes care of the rest in terms of letting the cabin go back down to the ground at the correct speed.

Website · by **LaTiNoObSeSeDSFGAm** on August 21st, 2005, 12:29 am

Well when the power went out, The Giant Drop and Raging Bull were still working around 10 minutes after it happend. 10 minutes later they were shut down along with the other rides.

by **sixflagsguy5** on August 21st, 2005, 12:46 am

They're on different generators, because SWT was added way after the park was originally built. Same with HH.

by **twixmix0303** on August 21st, 2005, 12:48 am

LaTiNoObSeSeDSFGAm wrote:Well when the power went out, The Giant Drop and Raging Bull were still working around 10 minutes after it happend. 10 minutes later they were shut down along with the other rides.

Yeah, I know. I'm just saying if...

Website · by **LaTiNoObSeSeDSFGAm** on August 21st, 2005, 9:13 am

sixflagsguy5 wrote:They're on different generators, because SWT was added way after the park was originally built. Same with HH.

I believe it. If the Giant Drop gets stuck half way they will get firefigheters to get them off the tower. I dont know what will happen if they get stuck on the top though.

Quick Question, How come when the power went out, Viper and everything was closed, but not Raging Bull and Giant Drop till later.

by **Raging_Bull** on August 21st, 2005, 12:22 pm

check two posts up

by **haydawg149** on August 21st, 2005, 12:45 pm

all drop towers like gramericas use magnet brakes so if there was a power outage it wouldnt matter, they would still stop as normal like any other ride, it would crash like some people might think . . .

by **SFaddiction84** on August 21st, 2005, 1:09 pm

i got stuck on giant drop once last year....we got to the top.....5..4..3..2..1....everyone dropped accept our car. we were up there for 30 min, because they kept resetting the computer but our car still wouldnt drop. and then out of no were we hear a voice on the speaker go.....and 3...2...1..drop and we dropped. so not enough warning

....instead of getting free exit passes or anything we got a coupon for a free souviner sports cup......

Im sorry, i used way to many periods there

by **twixmix0303** on August 21st, 2005, 1:51 pm

haydawg149 wrote:all drop towers like gramericas use magnet brakes so if there was a power outage it wouldnt matter, they would still stop as normal like any other ride, it would crash like some people might think . . .

I'm not talking about those brakes. I'm talking about the ones that hold the catchcar at the top. They are like anti-rollbacks that engage when the catchcar goes up, and disengage so that the counterweight system can let it slowly back down.

by **zjohn1988** on August 21st, 2005, 8:09 pm

twixmix0303 wrote:Those are the regular brakes at the bottom that stop the fall. I'm talking about the brakes at the motor on top. They act as the anti-rollbacks for the catchcar. The catchcar can only go down when they are released. Sky Trek Tower works the same way. During a power outage there, maintenance had to go up to the top and manually release the brakes. The counterweight system takes care of the rest in terms of letting the cabin go back down to the ground at the correct speed.

umm...

by **FParker185** on August 21st, 2005, 8:17 pm

if there was a power outage or whatnot and Giant Drop was hopelessly stuck, a maintaince person would climb up the ladder inside the tower then repel down from the top of the tower and release each car manually and have it freefall as normal.

Though I bet the ride or the park has a backup generator that they could hook up quick and get the ride down that way also, the repeling thing is if it's really hopelessly stuck, like motor blows, cable gets jammed on the pulley, etc.

by **w00dland** on August 21st, 2005, 9:43 pm

^FParker, is there a small shaft below ground on Giant Drop like there is on STT? How exactly do the maintaince people get inside of the tower.

by **clrntsqueak** on August 21st, 2005, 10:22 pm

Wow, this is some interesting stuff!

I never knew you could actually go up the Giant Drop's tower from the inside.

by **twixmix0303** on August 21st, 2005, 11:46 pm

zjohn1988 wrote:umm...

Would you care to explain?

Anyways, thanks FParker, that's the exact answer I was looking for. Also, I never thought of a backup generator, but it makes sense.

Giant Drop during a power outage

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