Those who were standing in line for the ride were allowed to go on it, but others were turned away.Ĭhanaud said the problem involved a "proximity switch error" with the car taken out of service. Great America spokesman Chanaud confirmed that a car in the Drop Zone ride was taken out of service 45 minutes before the accident. The company also built Great America's Skyhawk ride, which was temporarily shut down in 1991 after a passenger was killed on a similar ride built by Intamin at Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati. Intamin AG is a manufacturer of amusement rides and people-moving equipment such as airport monorail shuttles. The Drop Zone is used by 1.9 million riders per season. The company said the tower can handle 1,440 riders per hour.
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Passengers experience a free fall of 129 feet before they are slowed to a stop with an electromagnetic braking mechanism. Six coaches with four riders each are hauled along tracks straight up the tower, and then the coaches are released. The state leads the nation in amusement ride deaths, with 12 reported from 1973 through 1996 - not including the recent fatalities at Great America.īuilt in 1996 by the Swiss engineering firm Intamin AG, the Drop Zone Stunt Tower is among the most heavily visited thrill rides at the amusement park.
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Ironically, amusement park safety is to be the topic of a hearing today before the California Senate Appropriations Committee on a bill by Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D- Antioch, to establish a permanent amusement rides safety inspection program.Īlthough the state's Division of Occupational Safety and Health monitors safety of portable amusement rides, such as those set up at county fairs, California is one of four states that does not regulate permanent amusement rides. In 1980, a 13-year-old boy died when two trains collided on the Willard's Whizzer roller coaster. In 1989, a 9-year-old boy died after falling under a fiberglass log on a water ride. Last year, a 25-year-old Hayward man was killed after he climbed a six-foot security fence to retrieve a hat and was kicked by the dangling foot of a woman rider passing overhead on the Top Gun amusement ride. It is the second fatal accident at Great America in the past two years - and the fourth since it opened in 1976.
The boy's father lives out of state and was not at the scene. The victim's mother witnessed the accident from the ground and was escorted with other family members to a security office. Park officials declined to identify the employee, who works in the merchandise department. The youngster was strapped into the coach near a man identified as his stepfather and a family friend, who also happened to be a park employee. "It has a good safety record," he said.Ĭhanaud said that the boy had "severe mental and physical handicaps," but that none of his disabilities would have disqualified him as a rider. In the wake of the tragedy, Great America closed about 20 percent of its attractions for the rest of the day.Ĭhanaud said that no one had ever been killed or seriously injured on the ride. The ride was closed immediately after the accident, at about 3:20 p.m., and will remain closed until the investigation is complete. Park officials said they do not know at what point he fell from the coach. Witnesses said the boy apparently fell out of the seat after the coach began its precipitous descent, which begins 207 feet above the ground - the height of a 20-story building. "The harness was checked and locked before the coach started, and it was still locked when the vehicle returned to the ground," said Great America spokesman Timothy Chanaud.
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