Deadly Accident at the Ohio State Fair

[Paradox]

Ohio State Fair accident: 1 person dead, several hurt after ride malfunctions

A man was killed after a ride malfunctioned at the Ohio State Fair on Wednesday, Fox News has confirmed. Seven people were hurt, five of whom are in critical condition.

The Ohio Highway Patrol told Fox News that investigators were at the scene.

The man who was killed was one of several who were thrown from the Fire Ball ride when it malfunctioned, Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said. The victims range in age between 13 and 41 years old, Fox 28 reported.

Crews shut down other rides at the fair.

The cause of the malfunction was unclear. Recent storms and flooding forced inspectors to work long hours in recent days ensuring the rides were in good working shape, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

several hurt after ride malfunctions

A man was killed after a ride malfunctioned at the Ohio State Fair on Wednesday, Fox News has confirmed. Seven people were hurt, five of whom are in critical condition.

The Ohio Highway Patrol told Fox News that investigators were at the scene.

The man who was killed was one of several who were thrown from the Fire Ball ride when it malfunctioned, Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said. The victims range in age between 13 and 41 years old, Fox 28 reported.

Crews shut down other rides at the fair.

The cause of the malfunction was unclear. Recent storms and flooding forced inspectors to work long hours in recent days ensuring the rides were in good working shape, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

???The rain slowed us down a little bit. Usually a lot of this stuff would be up a lot faster,??? inspector Ron Dean told the newspaper.

Gov. John Kasich reacted: "I am terribly saddened by this accident, by the loss of life and that people were injured enjoying Ohio's fair. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those grieving and injured. I have ordered a full investigation into this incident and have ordered that all fair rides be shut down until additional safety inspections can be completed."

"Jane and I send our prayers and deepest sympathies to all those who were impacted by the accident at the Ohio State Fair this evening," Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said on Twitter.

The incident was confirmed on the official Twitter account for the Ohio State Fair. ???We are investigating and will report information as available,??? the tweet said.

Wednesday marked the state fair's opening day. The fair was initially scheduled to run through August 6.

Source

Video: WARNING GRAPHIC

Seems like the ride hit a fence and the arm broke off. The best part is the mom telling her kids "Look it's gonna be fun!" right before it crashes.

This ride seems to be a KMG Afterburner.

Just watched a live feed of a press conference from the governor of Ohio, John Kasich and this is what i jotted down from it:

-1 Dead, 7 injured. Information on the victims have not been released yet. 1 is in surgery, 2 are at a childrens hospital and 3 are in surgery.
-Mr. Kasich has ordered that all rides be shut down and inspected before re-opening
-Inspection side: 11 rides did not open at 10 A.M. wit the fair toady, however about 5 did after passing inspection. 4 may not open at all.
-THE RIDE THAT WAS IN THE ACCIDENT WAS INSPECTED MULTIPLE TIMES AND WAS SIGNED OFF TODAY.

Q&A was held: (Inspector from Agriculture answered questions)
-Fair will be open tomorrow however rides will be shut down until passing inspection.
- Ride inspection in stages:
1. Inspected on trucks the ride came in on
2. Inspected when the ride is 1/2 way built
3. Inspected when fully built
4.Inspected while sending test cycles
-There are 4300 pieces of equipment (Go-kart tracks, amusement rides etc.) that are inspected every year.
-Ride featured in incident was assembled from multiple trucks, and part of the inspection was that the ride is on level land. No red flags arose while inspecting the ride.
-Each ride goes through a pass/fail test. The ride in the accident passed inspection.
-Metal fatigue is possible.
-SUPPOSEDLY: The worker assigned to that ride went to fix something on the ride before the accident occurred. Some people said that he climbed up to tighten something, whether or not it was on an arm, seat or center of the ride is not known.
-MR. KASSICH'S MESSAGE TO PEOPLE ATTENDING THE FAIR AND HAVE SEASON TICKETS/PASS: " It appears everything went as planned inspection wise. People have to use their judgement before boarding a ride"

Video from twitter shows that the ride car looks to have possibly hit the floor from loading/unloading:

matthew6969 wrote:

-MR. KASSICH'S MESSAGE TO PEOPLE ATTENDING THE FAIR AND HAVE SEASON TICKETS/PASS: " It appears everything went as planned inspection wise. People have to use their judgement before boarding a ride"

Fantastic

I'd hoped to see brave people catching those poor riders thrown in the air. Miracle does not exist.

There has got to be human error/poor maintenance involved; accidents like this just shouldn't be able to happen.

[jayman]

"Im not riding fireball. It isnt safe"

[Mikey]

I have watched the video a few hundred times now, and frame by frame. The helicopter footage seems to give it away. From what I can tell, while the main assembly was passing through the home position (flat and level) one of the seat frames separated from the support arm. It was carried by momentum but because the ride moves faster then gravity the seats on the other side of the main assembly struck the separated portion mid air. This flung the separated portion outside the rides perimeter but the collision with the other seat frame destroyed the restraint system causing one passenger to be ejected from the still secured arm.

You can see from the helicopter footage that the attachment plate is completely gone. This would indicate that the bolts did not fail, but they are probably still attached to the seat frame.

[slosprint]

Did they do any sort of regular material inspection i.e. ultrasound? I haven't seen any mention of it.

[Paradox]

[Mikey]

Well, that proves it.

[mkingy]

slosprint wrote:

Did they do any sort of regular material inspection i.e. ultrasound? I haven't seen any mention of it.

I imagine it certainly is done at perceived weak points ie. weld joints, but I'm not sure that is one of those joints.

[Dirk_Ermen]

According to one of the Dutch news sites they could have seen this coming:
http://www.looopings.nl/weblog/8194/Fab ... uctie.html

Google Translation wrote:

The Dutch disaster attraction builder in the state of Ohio has warned earlier for cracks in the construction. This is evidenced by a letter sent by KMG Rides manufacturer in 2007 to all owners of afterburner attractions.

In a horrific accident with an afterburner at an American fairground, an 18-year-old man came to life on Wednesday evening. A row of chairs broke off during a ride. Seven people got injured. Since the incident, all afterburners remain silent worldwide, on the recommendation of KMG.

In August 2007, KMG noted that metal fatigue could arise in the winding arm of the attraction. Cracks were detected in at least one model. At that time, the manufacturer informed a letter that all models had to be tested with speed and, if necessary, had to be repaired. Additional reinforcements were also required.

The cause of the fatal accident in America is still being investigated. According to local inspectors, the 19 year old attraction - called Fire Ball - has been reviewed and approved several times. KMG took care of the machine for some time, but stopped there a few years ago.

Apparently they already sent out warnings in 2007 for possible cracks due metal fatigue and needed to be checked/tested asap. Also certain reinforcements needed to happen. The maintenance has been done by KMG for quite a few years but was apparently halted since a few years ago.

Since maintenance was halted a few years ago it feels like they just could have seen this coming...

[Mikey]

The legal phrase for negligence you are looking for is "Knew or should have known".

[hyyyper]

Dirk_Ermen wrote:

Dirk's quote

The issue that they warned for concerned a totally different part from the one which failed on this ride. All operating rides were strengthened in the affected area after the warning was published.

[mkingy]

Indeed, surely this section should be scanned though as part of the off season NDT testing?

[Dirk_Ermen]

hyyyper wrote:

Dirk_Ermen wrote:

Dirk's quote

The issue that they warned for concerned a totally different part from the one which failed on this ride. All operating rides were strengthened in the affected area after the warning was published.

Still the fact that they broke the maintenance at KMG gives a feeling off current maintenance being done on a less thorough scale. Probably resulting in defects like this being found prior to the accident. Instead after.

[Mikey]

So I think we are leaving out a few things here.

If it is a defect and there were others already found why this ride and why now? Portable rides are very different from fixed base rides as they get moved around. That means that things can happen in transport such as car accidents, dropping stuff during assembly, etc, that would not ordinary happen. Just because support from the OEM stops does not mean that the ride is unsafe, but it does mean that you will need to employ a registered professional engineer to replace the OEMs certificate if you intend to do any major repairs or modifications. You still need to follow the maintenance and inspection instructions provided by the OEM, including any TSBs on top of what ever the replacing engineer specifies.