Owners Knew Son of Beast Was Flawed

[Steve]

"Kings Island’s owners were “negligent” and “put passengers at risk” on the Son of Beast roller coaster, according to a forensic engineer who inspected the ride."

"Schmizze said when the ride opened in 2000, park owners knew they had a problem because the ride was swaying too much, likely due to inferior wood used. The ride was shut down several times after it opened, as Kings Island tried to fix the problems, he said."

Full article
http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Engineer-Owners-Knew-Son-Of-Beast-Was-Flawed/-JOrBfT0zkys3hw4FVfovg.cspx

[kingdakafan]

thats horrible. is probably already in the works to get ready to take it down now.

[B-mac]

It shouldn't of gone to the lowest bidder.

[GADVwow]

Huh?  The coaster was largely constructed under the supervision of new general contractor Paramount Parks, after the latter had fired the original general contractor, Roller Coaster Company of Ohio, an affiliate of Roller Coaster Corporation of America.

[nitrorox1414]

How stupid  can you be.. putting up a coaster that you know is in harms way.

[GADVwow]

That is that gentleman's opinion during a deposition made for a lawsuit.  Claims made during a lawsuit express only one side of a story.  That being said, during that particular suit, the jury did find Kings Island's negligence contributed to the plaintiff's injuries.  Before the issue of punitive damages was put before the jury, both sides settled (perhaps in part to keep this deposition from going before the jury).

By all means, few in the park business would think ANY operator would knowingly and willingly subject its patrons to unnecessary danger, and do so on purpose.

Why on earth would they do that?  The same state employer that the gentleman who testified worked for cleared the ride to reopen...both in 2006 after the incident in question and again this year, though the park chose not to reopen the ride after it had closed this season.

[overlord]

Forensic Engineer? I have never heard of such careers....now I must look into it more.

If it was flawed, how did it pass state inspection?

[GADVwow]

And if I were counsel for the park, you can be darn sure I'd have asked the gentleman that question!

[GADVwow]

And now the speculation begins in print:

Coaster's future in doubt
Kings Island 'Son of Beast' may have taken last ride...

Wright said she would not have accepted the settlement unless the video testimony of forensic engineer Richard Schimizze were made public.

In his testimony, the engineer said that Kings Island officials knew about extensive problems with the ride since 2000 and attempted to fix the issues on a case-by-case basis that increased stresses on certain components of the ride, leading to wooden supports snapping and causing accidents that injured Wright, and a reported 27 others, on July 9, 2006.

"I would feel like garbage if I held on to this information and then a year from now somebody was really hurt bad," said Wright, struggling to control her voice through tears. "I'm not saying that's going to happen, I'm just saying, 'What if?'"...

Wright said her pursuit of her case was never about money and she isn't leading a "crusade" against Cedar Fair. She is sympathetic to the company in that it inherited Son of Beast from Kings Island's former owner, Paramount Parks, a subsidiary of Viacom.

What Wright wants, she said, is to make sure what happened to her and others doesn't happen again....

(emphasis added)


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091114/NEWS01/911150350/Coaster+s+future+in+doubt

MOST terms of a settlement are never made public.  There may have been other terms of this settlement that may affect the future.   Or not.

[WadeJ]

Well, that right there is enough to explain why it has remained closed ever since as far as I'm concerned. And imo, the ride is done. Its just a matter of when budget is available.

[overlord]

Take it down, replace it with a GG and call it Cousin of Beast.

[AV Matt]

Save the lifthill and pre-lift section and tear down the rest. And see if TGG can reuse that loop with a much better layout.

[GADVwow]

The loop is long gone.  It was scrapped.

[Robert T Ackerman]

Tear down at least 30-40 feet on the lift hill too. No need for all of that

[B-mac]

with all the stuff that you're saying to do to it you might as well tear it down and replace it.

[AV Matt]

Perhaps, but if they can make use of any of it, they might as well. The first drop sucked. It was so drawn out. So no need to keep that. The first helix was kind of cool, but even with Timberliners, I don't think it's a good idea to have a woodie going 70mph through a helix. That's just asking for trouble. I'd love to see what TGG could do with a massive ride like SoB and incorporate and inversion or three. I'm sure they'd love to take a crack at it as well. A friend of mine was with Mike Graham (of TGG) at the park one day and he says Mike pointed at SoB and said it was "a waste of wood."