Did you hear about the Rollercoaster in North Carolina with the crack in the support beam?

[smahala1991]

This is Fury 325 at Carowinds in Charlotte NC, one of the the biggest roller coasters in the USA. . This weekend it was discovered by a guest that the coaster has a crack in the support beam.

[Anonymous]

First I am hearing about it.

We did hear about one of your railway bridges collapsing and dumping a load of nasty shit into the water below though and there have been concerns about the state and safety of your bridges for at least a while now.

I don't think you need be concerned about your themeparks though.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753518311238

The information here shows that the US is at least comparable to the best safety records in the world with an accident rate of about 1 in 40 million.

Clearly it is bad publicity and poor form that this was reported by a member of the public rather than being caught by a staff inspection but I think that is all it is and should not be a cause of major concern.

As you can see from the picture that joint there has completely failed but there is no deformation of the structure, it clearly doesn't give a shit that one of its legs has fallen off, it doesn't need it, there is sufficient over engineering or margin for error in the remaining structure to support the track etc just fine.

You can probably just weld that back up and carry on, it's unbunching everyones panties which will take the time.

Your bridge on the other hand is a completely different story, that collapsed so if you want to be worried about something be worried about that.

[WindAtMyBack]

A crack like that didn't happen instantly. That would have happened over time. Obviously nobody noticed during the early stages when the crack first started to form.

That could be a manufacturing flaw, but it looks like more of a design flaw. It looks like the structure is not designed strong enough to withstand the forces and extreme vibration it undergoes.

You can see the design of the support behind the cracked one better. It looks like all the forces are concentrated in one small area. The crack almost certainly started in the upper left because that's where all the forces are concentrated. It doesn't allow for any flex.

[DizzyDesii]

It looks more like where it connects down rather than cracked but either way thats sad if a guest noticed and not the inspector. The park should be closed until everything is carefully inspected. Just when I thought it was safe to go to Carowinds...

[DermalPunch]

Given America's pathology of putting profits above all else, I am not surprised and trust nothing any big company says in that country. It looks bad. I hope Frontline does an exposé on that industry.

[Kaneki05]

Jumping to conspiracy right away lol. I am gonna guess you haven't watched many videos on theme parks and specifically roller coasters.
I have. And plenty of times this is just due to human error not some underhand tactic to make more profits, also this actively creates them spending more money. When a roller coaster needs to be repaired it's not cheap, and often can be signs of much more complicated problems with the structure which then can lead to multiple shut downs to even death of the ride.
This all costs them a lot of money. Less uptime = Less profits and if they have to overdo the structure or take the coaster down that's a lot of money they wasted on the project.

Trust me if you get anything from watching lots of videos on theme parks they want to build rides to last not cut corners to then pay out tons later.

[DermalPunch]

@Kaneki05 What conspiracy? Upkeep costs money. They don't want to spend it. Happens over and over. They ignore ore warning because they don't want to spend money.

[Kaneki05]

Did you just ignore everything I said?

[DermalPunch]

@Kaneki05 I read it. The slient issue is that anyone with two eyes can see this is an upkeep issue. I don't need to wrote a tome to answer what is frankly irrelevant.

"they want to build rides to last not cut corners to then pay out tons later."

This is not how it usually comes out in the wash America over and over and over and over...

Pathology of Greed.

[Kaneki05]

Yeah so you've educated your self on many information videos on theme parks and how rollercoasters work? Or you just speaking off personal beliefs without any evidence.

[Kaneki05]

Because I can tell you now if you go an actually educate yourself you will know it costs way more to deal with it later and is a way worse off situation.

[DermalPunch]

@Kaneki05 I am not talking about rollercoasters specifically. Did you read what I wrote?

[Kaneki05]

I see so you don't understand the roller coaster industry at all to the point your even ignoring this is a roller coaster?

[DermalPunch]

@Kaneki05 I am talking about eh culture of greed in America. It manifests in many different ways in many different industries but it always boils down to profits over everything.

[DermalPunch]

@Kaneki05 I've contributed all that I wish to this exchange. All the best.

[Kaneki05]

So a personal Bias against america grounded on conspiracies great rather than educating yourself on how roller coasters work and you would know if done any research this is not what a company wants as it would cost them way more money than it's worth undercutting.

[Kaneki05]

I am surprised it wasn't noticed sooner but honestly if the ride is still running smoothly it can make sense. As well a certain thing like this would normally raise compliments of the ride been more shaky than normal but due to where the breakage was I wouldn't be shocked if it didn't hurt the experience of the ride therefore no complaints, less checks.

Though it seems obvious from where the crack is to be spotted again on the other hand people miss the obvious. They'll for sure be inspecting the ride more closely now, and weird that it's only this beam showing cracking tbf it is right on the curve when it would jolt around.

[NamerOfStars]

Well, I'm glad that it was found out by someone noticing, and not by the car being flung off into a crowd and killing a whole bunch of people. That's definitely a step forward.

[JustinTheGreat]

Reminds me of the video taken at one of the Six Flags a couple years ago of the whole beam shaking while people were on the ride

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z39KDGE1zng

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

That Rollercoaster could collapse and cause a lot of injuries and even deaths, that is one serious issue that needs that to shut that down and get it examined completely and possible fix and make test runs with it before opening it back up. We have Kennywood Park down at Westmifflin Pa and a lot of times I think of them Rollercoasters down there and how safe they are.

[Fireguy17]

glad they caught it before something tragic happened.

[genericname85]

that goes to show how much security factor is calculated in there, if it can still not collapse with a cracked support beam.

[JoeMichael67]

They don't have enough staff to inspect each ride every day. Welcome to Bidens "Build Back Better."

[Anonymous]

The public be dammed, keep them fuckin wheels rolling, we need profit! This just shows what is so good about our American Capitalist system. Happy fuckin July 4th.

[Anonymous]

A guest noticed, which means they aren’t inspecting the rides enough.

[msc545]

Another reason to not ride these things.

[DermalPunch]

Love them

[msc545]

@DermalPunch I'll watch while you ride. I hate the things.