×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Verrückt water slide decapitation
7

Verrückt water slide decapitation

Verrückt water slide decapitation

(OP)
A water park boss has been charged after a 10-year-old boy was decapitated on the world’s most tallest slide which investigators claim “violated every safety rule”.

Jeffrey Wayne Henry, 62, co-owner of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts, was arrested in Cameron County, Texas, on a federal warrant that was issued after the company's Kansas City, Kansas, park and its former director of operations, Tyler Austin Miles, were indicted last week in Kansas state court in the death of Caleb, the son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab.

According to the indictment, Henry "possesses no technical or engineering credentials, yet he controls decisions regarding Schlitterbahn design and construction projects."

Co-owner of the waterpark was arrested

Schlitterbahn Water Park Boss

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

2
Abusive and domineering personality and money. Never seen that combination before...

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)


RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

When I read this item the other day I was tempted to post it here myself winky smile

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

The question I have is that it appears no engineers were involved in building this. In many places a city will set up a fine and maybe a demolition order for a porch they don't approve. How did this guy get permits?

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

How did their insurance company permit them to operate this? When I think back about how I've had to step and fetch to meet insurance requirements on various projects over the years, this one flabbergasts me.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

It's hard to get a complete picture here.
I would guess that engineers WERE involved- specifically involved in the structural design, to make sure it didn't fall over.
The problem wasn't there, it was on the functional aspect, of making sure that it was safe to ride.
I suppose there may be water park engineers that do that regularly, but I'm not so sure how I'd approach that from an engineering standpoint. Or I guess, my engineering judgement would say "don't go jumping off any 170' slide, it's not safe", which is not what they were after. Evidently, the problem in question was an erratic, not consistent, problem.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Any technical details on what happened? Ride came unseated, safety net strung too low, etc.?

Dan - Owner
http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

One of the reports said that there had been instances of the boats lifting off, presumably near the top of the second rise. Looking at the video in the msn link it seems that the strapped in rider hit the hoops on the top which were there to prevent boats shooting off completely. It seems those hoops and netting were an added feature when test runs showed that boats could fly off, especially if lightly loaded.

At speeds of nearly 60 MPH I'm not surprised that the boats could become airborne and flip or rise.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

I saw a documentary on the water slide a few years ago. During the testing with sand bags, one of the rafts went airborne off the second hill, flew off to the side and free-fell to the ground. That prompted a "redesign" of the slide by raising the bottom of the first hill.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Regarding the engineering, I read (either in a news story or in the indictment itself, I can't recall offhand) that an outside engineering company did the structural design, but the actual dynamics of the ride itself weren't really designed except by trial-and-error.

Another complication of this is that Schlitterbahn represents a whole bunch of individual sub-companies, one of which is its own general contractor who built the slide.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Quote (Spartan5)

The indictments go into some detail:

Holy cow. Those guys need to spend the rest of their lives in prison.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

XR250, I was just going to post this exact same thing. The blatant ignoring of safety issues as well as calculated cover-up after the fatal accident is almost unbelievable.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Keep in mind that you're getting 100% one side of the story there, which can be pretty misleading in some cases.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

This was a truly horrific incident - I can't imagine how the parents would have felt or the other riders.

The indictments are written in what seems like non legal language and for sure, represents the prosecution side, but the picture it paints is unfortunately believable. The lack of engineering design of the main ride features itself is the key to this. Designing by the seat of your pants and trial and error is not the way to design things where the general public are exposed to this level of risk.

I do wonder though what sort of licensing and oversight from local officials should have been or whether this sort of activity falls under the radar somehow. For this operation to be apparently self certified beggars belief.

Given the litigious nature in the US, I'm very surprised that some of the injuries listed in the indictment didn't result in large damages and law suits.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Echoing LittleInch and others... I'm not an expert in this area by any means, but I wondered how this could have happened without a building authority stepping in. Given that there was a qualified structural engineer involved, is it just a case where the building department sees there are sealed structural drawings and doesn't ask about whether the ride itself was designed? I imagine your average building official doesn't deal with a lot of waterslides...

Can anybody shed some light on that process?

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

I love the statement in the indictment paragraph #32 . "obviously things do fall faster than Newton said" . !!

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

ChadV, you might be surprised how many areas, rural and not so rural, have no building authority. In those cases, the owner can do anything they want, only restricted by their insurers, the fire department (who sometimes will weigh in) and other risk management issues.
It makes common sense (at least to us) to have structures engineered, but it does cost money, both for the engineer and for any added money an engineered structure costs.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

(OP)

Quote (LittleInch (Petroleum))

I do wonder though what sort of licensing and oversight from local officials should have been or whether this sort of activity falls under the radar somehow. For this operation to be apparently self certified beggars belief.


Amusement Park visitors assume that the rides are safe. Apparently not, and with little oversight. Verrückt is located in the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan. which is a separate smaller government agency (pop. 170,000) than Kansas City, MO (pop. 600,000). Kansas City, MO already has an amusement park and probably would have required more oversight.

"Federal officials don’t regulate water slides. State officials, ultimately guided by the elected politicians who were invited for a special day at the park when disaster struck, run on rules that allowed the slide to open in 2014 without a government oversight of its fundamental design.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., largely evaluated Verrückt by whether it met local zoning and building codes.
Rather, the ultimate safety of the slide mostly began and ended with those inspired to build it.

Ride inspectors interviewed by The Star were reluctant to speak publicly for fear of alienating clients in the industry. They said insurers typically require a ride be erected, operated and maintained to a manufacturer’s specifications.

Most parks go to the Canadian design firms ProSlide and WhiteWater West to make their water slides. But in this case, as with nearly all with the New Braunfels, Texas-based company, Schlitterbahn was the manufacturer."


Newspaper Coverage



"In 1981, Congress passed legislation rescinding the CPSC’s authority over “permanent” rides, only allowing them to monitor temporary rides of the sort featured at pop-up carnivals and fairs.

Kansas, it will surprise no one to find out, isn’t exactly tough on theme parks. In an interview with USA Today in 2014, in fact, the Verruckt’s designer specifically cited the state’s lack of regulation regarding the height of rides as one reason the amusement park operator decided to place the world’s tallest water slide there. As for inspections, the state only requires an annual exam, one that is conducted privately and that the park doesn’t need to share with state authorities. There are no surprise spot checks, like there are in neighboring Missouri."

Water Park Regulations

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

ChadV…

In the early 1990s, a colleague told me a story about a similar lack of oversight he had recently encountered. The short version is this: My colleague walked into City Hall in a small mid-western city and asked something like, "My client wants to build a shopping center here, what are your requirements and procedures?" The woman at the counter handed my colleague a one-page form and asked him to fill it out. He did, and handed it back. She glanced over my colleague's form, then filled out a second one-page form and handed it to my colleague. He asked what this second form was, and she told him, "That's your building permit." No fees, no plan check, no nothing. And, my colleague's client didn't even own the property in question, but only had an option on it.

Having worked entirely in California for nearly 40 years and mostly on projects in California, I cannot fathom such a lax approach. But, it's apparently not uncommon.

-- Fred

==========
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Still like this in many smaller towns throughout the Midwest. 15 years ago I had a mini-storage facility built for me. I was able to get the building permit AND have city council change zoning on the site before I even purchased the land from the then-owner, didn't even have the purchase agreement squared away yet. Permit was also a one page cursory form, no verifications of any kind, although the building system that I chose was an engineered building with stamped drawings and erected by a legit contractor, but it would have been just as easy not to. Building permit fee . . . $5.00. No lie. The cost of a Big Mac and a soda.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

The thing is, these small towns are usually looking for development. They're "hungry". If you get to the bigger cities, you'll probably see more regulations and costs. In a small town, however, if you want to invest money into the town by adding a business or even better yet an employer, they're all for it (with exceptions for "sin-type" businesses of course...)

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

"Amusement Park visitors assume that the rides are safe."

In some respects, they are way safer than the rides attached to the traveling circuses and shows. Just imagine a Tilt-a-Whirl that gets dismantled and mantled every week. In previous years, there were reports of deaths and injuries and even less oversight, since they're not permanent structures and switch towns, counties, and states on a moment's notice.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers Entire Forum list http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Rubber rafts make bad airplanes.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Quote (IRstuff)

Just imagine a Tilt-a-Whirl that gets dismantled and mantled every week

That would be the Tilt-a-Whirl whose otherwise inaccessible structural components get a weekly close-up, hands-on, inspection from somebody who knows how they are meant to go together and whose personal livelihood depends on the whole lot staying together when it's meant to.

A few years ago, I heard the (UK) HSE inspector responsible for fairground rides across the country saying that it was the fixed rides that always bothered him most.

One of my suppliers does a bit of hydraulic repair work for that industry and describes them (not, to be fair, his precise words) as very demanding customers.

A.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Amusement rides and attractions usually come under a separate state government entity and have little or nothing to do with the building codes. A prime example of that is in Florida, where we have amusement rides and attractions out the wazoo! The Florida Amusement rides come under the State of Florida, Department of Agriculture, Division of Fair Rides and Amusements. They have inspectors who inspect each transportable ride, but permanent park rides may be handled internally by the parks, provided they meet certain criteria. The major theme parks in Florida are allowed to do their own internal inspections to satisfy the state requirements. Some other states have similar laws/criteria. In most of the late 80's and 90's I did a lot of amusement ride consulting, from inspections to failure investigations. I co-authored the first inspection protocol for transportable rides for the State of Florida. I have done many, many inspections, tests and failure investigations for several of the major permanent parks, both before and after they were authorized by the State of Florida to do their own internal inspections.

In dealing with these rides, I had to deal with many of the ride manufacturers. I was very surprised that some of the major ride manufacturers have NO engineering staff. At best they would have maybe an unlicensed mechanical engineer doing everything from the structure to the movement mechanisms, etc. One of the major coaster manufacturers in the US had exactly this setup. One of the European manufacturers had a PhD engineer who was a "captive consultant", but did other stuff as well. Almost everything was designed by trial and error, along with some good ol' boy 'speriance.

So this water slide design does not surprise me in the least.

IRstuff.....there are many of the older rides, such as the Tilt-a-Whirl, Scrambler and older Ferris Wheels that have performed many years with few problems. Some of the more recent ride designs have actually been more problematic in the transportable rides, including those such as the parachutes, Himalaya (and its theme variations), and the Orbitron. All of these rides are dynamic and subject to fatigue and the older rides were so overdesigned that fatigue was rarely an issue. Newer rides have been "optimized" in their design to the point that fatigue is a common concern. Transportable rides are subject to fatigue in their operation and in their transportation. The State of Florida has a requirement in their law (which we have tried to get removed because it doesn't make sense) to test for fatigue! Oh well....

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

This link on page 7 stays 42 states have regulations and 38 of them quotw astm F24.

Any idea which the 42 are?

Looks like Kansas isn't one of them.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&a...

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Wow Ron...

You must write books on the side!

poke

Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)


RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Mike...only when forced!

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

(OP)

Quote (LittleInch (Petroleum))

This link on page 7 stays 42 states have regulations and 38 of them quote astm F24. Any idea which the 42 are?

See the chart in the link:

Comparison of State Ride Safety Regulations

RE: Verrückt water slide decapitation

Quote (Ron)

All of these rides are dynamic and subject to fatigue and the older rides were so overdesigned that fatigue was rarely an issue. Newer rides have been "optimized" in their design to the point that fatigue is a common concern.
(My emphasis)

See this in all kinds of places as "advanced analysis" becomes more integrated w/ design software...

Regards,

Mike

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources