Riders stuck on roller coaster (Great America's "Invertigo")

[CreekDog]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(08-10) 15:14 PDT SANTA CLARA -- Firefighters are trying to rescue two dozen people stuck on a roller coaster today at the Great America amusement park.

The incident was reported at about 1:30 p.m. when 24 people were stuck on board the Invertigo, said Capt. Scott Kouns of the San Jose Fire Department.

The riders are from 30 to 70 feet above the ground and are all upright, Kouns said.

(snip)

Riders on board the Invertigo are taken upside down six times in just over a minute after an initial 161-foot climb. The train reaches a speed of 50 mph and eventually repeats the course in reverse.

A Great America spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/10/BA9H196LKB.DTL&tsp=1

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The "invertigo".

Pardon me for laughing. :rofl:

[Auggie]

1. Imagine being stuck upside down

[CreekDog]

3. they are upright actually, but something worse happened to folks in Las Vegas a while back:

Tourists Stuck on Las Vegas' Stratosphere's X-Scream Ride

Tourists looking for a thrill got more than they asked for Tuesday night when a power outage left them dangling over the Las Vegas Strip for more than an hour. The six tourists were on the ride called X-Scream. It gives people a birds eye view looking straight down, which is the exactly the position the ride got stuck in during the approximately 90 minute power outage.

Six Japanese tourists were on the X-Scream when the power went out. Nevada Power said wind entangled power and telephone lines causing the outage and not a car accident.

The ride was stuck over the edge because it doesn't have manual hydraulics to pull it back in. The riders were stuck until the power was restored just before 7:30 p.m., but they were obviously shaken.

============

Those riders were hanging over the edge of the Stratosphere, yes, over 1000 feet above the ground. Now that had to be awful.

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=4124918

[Ian David]

8. I've seen it happen. n/t

[mbperrin]

2. Ahhh, that's nothin'! A group of 50 air travelers spent 9 hours yesterday on

the tarmac in a tiny plane with inadequate restrooms!

Airline couldn't find a bus in the entire state of Minnesota to take 'em off.

Hell, these folks are in the open air! Quit whinin'!

[rucognizant]

4. YEs but......

What if they have to pee?

[Chemisse]

5. Hmm, how do you pee if you're upside down? n/t

[TheMadMonk]

7. messily. NT

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Both terrify me, to be honest.

And I cannot for the life of me, understand why airlines are allowed to get away with that.

Little difference between that and hostage taking.

[BlueJazz]

6. A spokesman for the park said: For your time and trouble, we are prepared to give you...

....a coupon for a regular Hotdog and a (small) Coke.

[EFerrari]

9. I'd pay THEM to stay off of it.

:rofl:

[JerseygirlCT]

10. Oh man. Just thinking about that makes me nervous! nt