Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
Shambhala is a steel roller coaster located at PortAventura World, in Salou Spain. The ride opened to the public as Europe’s tallest roller coaster, taking guests up 76m (249ft) high before allowing them to plummet back towards the ground below. In this video we’ll explore the type of ride experience Shambhala offers, as well as its many statistics and developed theme.
Its certainly one of my favourite rides. With 32 rides in one day.
Alton towers have finally came back with the results of the tragic alton towers smiler crash in June 2015.
Human error caused the Alton Towers rollercoaster crash in June that seriously injured five people, the Staffordshire theme park has said. Two women – Victoria Balch and Leah Washington – had legs amputated after the Smiler ride hit an empty carriage on 2 June.
seriously injured five people, the Staffordshire theme park has said. Two women – Victoria Balch and Leah Washington – had legs amputated after the Smiler ride hit an empty carriage on 2 June.
Staff misunderstood a shutdown message and wrongly restarted the ride, an investigation by the park confirmed. No technical or mechanical issues were found with the ride itself. The ride, which has been closed since the crash, will reopen next year with improved safety measures.
“A ride shutdown message was misunderstood by staff at the ride,” an Alton Towers spokeswoman said. “This led to a decision to manually restart the ride, overriding the control system without appropriate safety protocols being followed correctly.”
Staff misunderstood a shutdown message and wrongly restarted the ride, an investigation by the park confirmed. No technical or mechanical issues were found with the ride itself. The ride, which has been closed since the crash, will reopen next year with improved safety measures.
“A ride shutdown message was misunderstood by staff at the ride,” an Alton Towers spokeswoman said. “This led to a decision to manually restart the ride, overriding the control system without appropriate safety protocols being followed correctly.”
Human error… The kind from poorly paid late teenage-mid 20s people. Its hardly surprising as the chances of technical malfunction was always super low. The fact it was reset also explains why the failsafe didn’t do what its meant to do.
Humans are sadly the weak link, especially unmotivated, over worked and under paid staff.. I hope they start paying the staff better before the Smiler reopens next year.
“The investigation also identified areas where protocols and the training of employees should be improved. There were found to be no technical or mechanical problems with the ride itself.”
It added that Alton Towers had introduced a number of new safety measures across all its multi-car rollercoasters since the accident. When the Smiler reopens, it will include new safety measures including additional CCTV cameras and an enhanced safety process requiring a senior member of staff to authorise the manual overrides that caused the Smiler crash.
Maybe its time to use that years pass.
One of my new years resolutions knocked off again…
Scooter into another country or new area
Last years trip down to Bristol via Snowdonia was amazing and I got to go do it again but go further a field. The issue really is weather but I think early summer in Ireland or up through Scotland could be fun. I’ve also been thinking about how I have never been to East Anglia (except Kings Lynn), so maybe its time on the scooter?
Done!
Grenta Green all the way from Manchester along the M61 and M6. Thanks Kate an d Paul for putting me up. in the Yurt.
I have owned a yearly pass for Alton Towers and Thorpe Park theme parks in the UK for a few years now. Its been well used over the last few years. The last time I went was in late March before going to Tokyo.
Soon after I got back, the smiler crashed and everybody and their mum pointed me at the news. Its pretty shocking and it does make you think but to be fair Rollercoasters are not meant to crash in this kind of way.
I did pay for another years pass before this all happened but haven’t picked it up yet (it becomes active once you go to a theme park and use it). I’m not quite sure how I feel about picking up my yearly pass especially since the smiler is still closed and looks to never be back…?
@ThemeParkInc Due to The Smiler being closed for the foreseeable future, we have decided to remove the branding
— Alton Towers Resort (@altontowers) June 15, 2015
The years pass doesn’t start till I pick it up but I wonder how Alton Towers will react if I decided I wanted my money back?
In reflection, the Japanese way of triple checking everything before letting the train leave the station, is quite sobering to read and think about. My reaction in light of the smiler accident is slightly changed.