What Happened in the Wildwood, NJ Sea Dragon Accident?
We looked at pictures of the Sea Dragon.
As you can see in the photo, the decorative steel center mast is a freestanding structure. Made of steel, it has a considerable weight. In addition, the physical forces exerted on the center mast during the ride put considerable stress on any bolts and anchor plates that hold the mast to the ship.
The Sea Dragon pirate ship, built by Chance Rides, is essentially a big pendulum. At the top of its arc, the forces of momentum and gravity combine to give the rider a moment of zero gee weightlessness. Basically, the force exerted between you and the seat you occupy drops to zero. Without the support of the seat, you accelerate according to gravitational dictates, and feel momentarily weightless. This is part of what makes the ride fun. But the stresses caused by the counteracting forces make ride restraints a necessity for keeping you safely in your seat. These restraints exert force in several directions to balance the forces of the pendulum’s movement.
The only “restraints” on the center mast are whatever bolts, nuts and anchor plates may hold it to the pirate ship’s floor. These exert force only in one direction. But the center mast, which looks to have a high center of gravity and be a little “top heavy,” experiences the same sequence of forces from the pendulum that you do.
Perhaps you have used a pry bar to lever a flat piece of metal up from the surface to which it was attached. (Let’s imagine a metal plate of a size and weight reasonable in relation to the pry bar and you.) If you’ve done this, you know that the angle of force applied through the pry bar is more than adequate to loosen the metal piece and the bolts that may be trying to hold it down.
The forces of the pirate ship’s pendulum swing, over time, would act upon the center mast anchoring system much like the pry bar acts on our hypothetical metal plate. We’ve learned that the manufacturer of the ride, Chance Rides, issued a service bulletin a decade ago warning of essentially this problem. Their bulletin stated that over time, anchor plate bolt holes would become worn and enlarged, and that they should be repaired. Without repair, the bulletin warned, the mast could detach and cause injuries.
Investigations of the Sea Dragon accident are still in their early stages. We do not yet know for certain whether perhaps these manufacturer’s warnings went unheeded. But as experienced amusement park ride accident attorneys accustomed to examining amusement park ride accident circumstances for our clients, we can’t help but notice that the nature of the Sea Dragon accident certainly seems to follow the scenario in the warning from Chance Rides.
UPDATE on MOREY’S PIERS Amusement Park, October 30, 2012
The Morey’s Piers Amusement Park is located in the barrier islands area of seaside New Jersey that was pretty soundly devastated by Superstorm Sandy. For fans of the rides of Morey’s Piers though, there might be hope. Pictures from after the storm show the Ferris Wheel standing proudly above the waters, apparently undamaged by the storm. The park itself appears to be largely surrounded by water and some of the lower parts of some rides look like they might be underwater.
The salt from the seawater can corrode metal tracks and control systems. Amusement parks along the eastern seaboard will likely be putting a great deal of extra effort into safety inspections and repairs before re-opening their rides to enthusiasts. Better safe than sorry. Morey’s Piers, for instance, has already cancelled its highly anticipated Morey’s Fears, Terror in the Park Halloween event. But we are pleased to see that the park seems to have survived largely intact, even if it temporarily stands as a little island among the floodwaters.