Girl falls from Great Escape sky ride

[dougdrummer]

I didn't see this scary moment posted anywhere on the forum:

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Woman-falls-from-Six-Flags-Great-Escape-ride-11245079.php

 

QUEENSBURY — It was the last ride of the evening Saturday for the Lent family.

Moments after Theresa Lent of Glenville and her 10-year-old daughter Ashley boarded the Sky Ride, a chairlift-like ride that spans the breadth of the Six Flags Great Escape amusement park, she heard an uproar. She first thought it was laughter, then she quickly realized it was screaming.

Girl falling from ride at 6 Flags Great Escape and they have NO means to rescue them. Thanks to the guys who banded together to catch her and the guy who climbed the tree to move the branches out of the way.

Lent's husband, Loren, was on the ground, having decided to sit out the Sky Ride. From different vantage points, they both saw the source of the yelling: a 14-year old patron from Greenwood, Del., had slipped halfway out of her chair and was dangling from the ride with her arms and neck caught in the restraining bar.

The youngster eventually fell and was caught by onlookers who gathered 25 feet below her, poised to break the fall, Warren County sheriff's deputies said.

The girl suffered no serious injuries, deputies said.

And while her husband captured the fall on his smart phone from below, Theresa Lent saw and heard the ordeal from her spot on the Sky Ride.

It quickly became apparent that there was a problem, she said, as onlookers from below were yelling. She said it took a few moments for the ride to stop. Once the chairs halted, patrons below swung into action.

Some climbed a nearby tree, since the branches stuck out below the stranded teen. Others desperately pulled out poles and removed other obstacles the youngsters might hit.

"I could see the commotion. I knew something bad had happened,'' she recalled. "All the parents were, like, 'We don't want her to get hurt.' "

"Then we just prayed," she said.

The crowd below yelled: "Her neck is stuck.'' After realizing the youngster was trapped and in danger of choking, her brother, who was sitting beside her, let her drop.

Matthew Howard Sr., 47, of Schenectady, broke the girl's fall.

"I said: 'It's 'OK! It's OK to let go, I'll catch you, honey. I'm not going to let you fall,'" said Howard, who was there with his three daughters and girlfriend.

"He just grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her,'' said Theresa Lent.

And Loren Lent's smart phone video went up on Facebook and became viral.

The victim was treated by park emergency personnel prior to be taken to Glens Falls Hospital, deputies said. She was later brought to Albany Medical Center.

Howard also was taken to Glens Falls Hospital for a back injury, where he was treated and released, officials said.
Sheriff's investigators and park personnel inspected the ride and the car the teen was riding in and found everything was working properly and all safety equipment was intact and operational at the time of the incident.

"This morning, the N.Y. State Department of Labor has cleared the ride for operation," said Rebecca Wood, Great Escape's director of marketing & sales, on Sunday. "As the safety of our guests and team members is our top priority, and out of an abundance of caution, the ride will remain closed while we conduct a thorough internal review."
Queensbury Central Fire, West Glens Falls EMS, and Bay Ridge EMS assisted at the scene.

Theresa Lent said she'll always remember riding past the victim's young brother as they passed each other on the ride after the incident.

"I was trying to come up with, what do I say to him?" Lent recalled.

Both her daughter and two of her friends in the chair in front of them cried all the way down, said Lent.

She said the incident won't deter them from future visits. She and her family are regulars at the park.
"It's not going to stop us from going," she said.

[scott]

I was going to post aomething from work today but I actualy had to work.

 

Here is another video form Inside Edition.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/dad-who-rescued-14-year-old-who-fell-from-six-flags-ride-we-all-saved-her/vi-BBDizi0?ocid=spartanntp

[Mrpq]

I feel like there is more to this story in the sense of rider error. I don't under stand how she fell that far under the lap bar. Looking at pictures it seems just like the sky ride at Hershey and there is no way you are sliding under those laps bars without some how forcing yourself under them

[scott]

I feel like there is more to this story in the sense of rider error. I don't under stand how she fell that far under the lap bar. Looking at pictures it seems just like the sky ride at Hershey and there is no way you are sliding under those laps bars without some how forcing yourself under them

 

I thought the same thing. I don’t know how she got under that bar. I didn’t know how tight the lap bar was until I watched the Inside Edition video of the gondolas running normally. It looks like a tight squeeze but I don’t know how much play is in the bar that would allow someone to slip under it.

 

I am thinking we may never know what really happened. If the girl did intentionally wiggle under the bar for reasons unknown I don’t think she will open up about it. The ride looks safe to me as long as people sit back and enjoy the ride. Again, I don’t know what happened and can’t say it was or wasn’t her fault but I don’t know how she got under there that way.

 

You wouldn’t think a girl would do something to get herself into that kind of a situation. Now a young boy, that’s another story. Have you watched those video shows? The boys are the ones do the majority of the things that show a lack of commonsense that will get themselves hurt.

[dougdrummer]

I've ridden that Sky Ride many times, but it's been a while and I don't remember what the restraints were like. I thought the same thing - how in the world did she get below the restraint and then hang from her chin/neck? I also don't think we'll get the full story, because no doubt the family will be lawyering up and they will tell her not to talk. Based on my skiing experience, I think it would be much easier to get underneath the lap bar on a ski chairlift.

 

Ironically I was on the Big Wheel at SFGA yesterday and we came to a stop at the very top when they started to disembark passengers at the bottom. My wife was starting to get a little freaked when the car started rocking in the wind, and she made some comment about how someone could climb out of the car despite the "cage" around it. I don't see how unless they climbed up and over the cage.

[Mrpq]

Ski lift lap bars don't lock though. You can easily lift the bar up. From what I can recall the lap bars on the sky ride do in fact get locked and unlocked at the station. I have also read that she really wasn't hanger from her neck, it just seemed that way from the view people had. I'm no dr but if she was just hanging from her neck I think there would have been greater injury top the girl.

 

Also, mentioned about how its more common for a boy to get himself into a situation like this more so than a girl. I don't think that's true at all. I have a 13 year old girl cousin and her brother is 10. She is way more sneaky than he is lmao

[GAcoaster]

Supposedly she was trying to touch the trees with her feet.

[The Master]

Saw this story on 6ABC. That girl is lucky to not have been killed. Trying to touch trees with her feet, sounds like she was messing around.

 

Girls can be PITA just as much as boys. Years ago as a kid, one of my female friends climbed on and played with a bulldozer and even started it!

[Mrpq]

Being this news has come out about the girl trying to touch trees, does that dismiss any lawsuit slapped on the park from the family?

[dougdrummer]

Being this news has come out about the girl trying to touch trees, does that dismiss any lawsuit slapped on the park from the family?

I guess it would depend on the validity on the source of the information. It could have been someone speculating or something the brother said, or something a person on the ground thought they witnessed. I suspect it will be a long time before all the facts come out.

 

And if the girl was not killed or seriously hurt, what type of a suit would they have against SF? Some pain and suffering? Medical bills?

[Matt Kaiser]

http://wnyt.com/news/great-escape-ride-fall-investigation-queensbury-warren-county/4527150/

 

The girl is not talking and the family won't cooperate with police. Hmm...

[dougdrummer]

as predicted....

 

 

 

Investigators say the family hired an attorney and is not cooperating with the police investigation.

[Mrpq]

So if that's the case the investigator has to come up with his own theory of what happened. Seems like the family knows their child F'ed up and is trying to cover up while still trying to make out on top

[ericthewanderer]

I'm just afraid that all sky rides will either be torn down or forced to install seat belts, seat dividers, AND OTSRs.

[dougdrummer]

I'm just afraid that all sky rides will either be torn down or forced to install seat belts, seat dividers, AND OTSRs.

that could affect all ski areas as well

[scott]

I'm just afraid that all sky rides will either be torn down or forced to install seat belts, seat dividers, AND OTSRs.

 

I don't think it would have any effect on the GA sky ride. They are not the same kind of gondola. The GA gondolas are pretty well enclosed and the one at Great Escape is just a step above a ski lift.

[Yoshi]

There are rumors Lake Compounce's Skyride is either going to be closed for the rest of the year or permanently. Maybe it has nothing to do with this incident but it seems coincidental.

 

I am also hoping there are no rules added like no single riders on the Skyway at Great Adventure (I know this incident was not a single rider but that may not stop it from happening). It's frustrating I can't even ride a ferris wheel at a park anymore unless I am with others that want to ride because in NJ, it's a state law and while not a law in PA, a lot of parks have Chance wheels that have no single riders as a requirement.

[29yrswithaGApass]

 

 

 

Great Escape ride reopens after teen's fall

 

QUEENSBURY — Less than a week after a teenage girl fell from Sky Ride, the attraction at The Great Escape has reopened with one change: an additional positioning bar on the restraint that is placed between riders' legs.

 

In dramatic incident that was caught on video and garnered national attention, a 14-year-old from Delaware dangled from the ride last Saturday before falling 25 feet into the arms of onlookers who had gathered below.

 

"I said: 'It's 'OK! It's OK to let go, I'll catch you, honey. I'm not going to let you fall,'" said Matthew Howard, 47, of Schenectady, who was there with his three daughters and girlfriend.

 

The teen, who was on the ride with her brother, was taken to Albany Medical Center but suffered no injuries, authorities said.

 

Great Escape, a Six Flags property, on Friday said the ride was reviewed by safety engineers, along with the state Department of Labor.

 

The "attraction has safely transported approximately five million guests at The Great Escape for over 45 years without incident," park spokeswoman Jessica Hansen said in a statement. "The ride was inspected and cleared to resume operation with no modifications necessary."

 

The positioning bar was added out of an abundance of caution, Hansen said. The park has also added a visual aid to the ride so that riders understand the corrected seated position, she said.

[dougdrummer]

There are rumors Lake Compounce's Skyride is either going to be closed for the rest of the year or permanently. Maybe it has nothing to do with this incident but it seems coincidental.

 

I am also hoping there are no rules added like no single riders on the Skyway at Great Adventure (I know this incident was not a single rider but that may not stop it from happening). It's frustrating I can't even ride a ferris wheel at a park anymore unless I am with others that want to ride because in NJ, it's a state law and while not a law in PA, a lot of parks have Chance wheels that have no single riders as a requirement.

I rode the Big Wheel last week and I saw the sign for no single riders, and just shook my head....