There is currently a post circulating on Facebook stating that 4 seats "flew off" Orion while testing. 

 

I find this very hard to believe as there is no evidence provided. Is the park or this community aware of this "rumor"?

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10105205443277136&id=39507173&sfnsn=mo

Just read this on Facebook myself. Surely, if anything did come off a train car it would've been test dummies, not the actual seats themselves

Ugh, I despise GP. There was no accident. Just some water dummies. geez

 

I have no idea what did happen, but whatever they think they saw did not occur.  
 

Could have been a water dummy or even more than one, a typical way to empty the dummies on the rigid versions at least.  Is to just remove the plug and run the coaster and let the water spray out throughout the ride.  But one thing I can guarantee is no seats went flying off the coaster.

Someone posted this elsewhere where Chad explains what happened.  Chad is reaching out to people posting this and providing this statement:

 

Kudos to Chad for addressing this.  Rumormongering by uninformed folks can really do social damage.

Great to see Chad / the park being proactive and acknowledging the situation. 

Made the news now.

https://local12.com/news/local/what-kings-island-says-about-reports-of-seats-flying-off-orion-cincinnati-mason-ohio-roller-coaster-testing-water-weights

Just to show that this is not a rare event

And this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.daytondailynews.com/entertainment/test-dummies-fly-off-jersey-shore-galeforce-roller-coaster-during-safety-test/qeMbfZESdgBZbJp4miSEYO/%3FoutputType%3Damp

A lot of people reported that they say seats fly off of Orion. I chalked it up as a rumor. Here is the park’s response:

https://local12.com/news/local/what-kings-island-says-about-reports-of-seats-flying-off-orion-cincinnati-mason-ohio-roller-coaster-testing-water-weights

Here is the statement Chad from the park sent me:

"On Tuesday, Orion was temporarily closed to undergo testing, which is not uncommon for new rides. Part of the testing required the park to increase the train’s weight by using water weight bags. Some of these bags came loose during a test run while the train was in motion. At no time was there a safety concern and the ride is expected to resume operation today."

I just want to know what caused it, and would it have happened if a human body was in those same seats instead lol..

Just now, seven58o said:

I just want to know what caused it, and would it have happened if a human body was in those same seats instead lol..

Assuming it's a similar situation to what happened at GaleForce in 2019, then no need to worry. Unlike humans, the water test dummies don't have the same rigidity (i.e., bones). If they weren't fully filled before riding (or, as happened with GaleForce, there were any leaks), then they can lose their form and won't retain the right shape and dimensions to stay in the seat. Even if a human was to pass out on Orion and their body became limp, their body would still be held in place by the restraint thanks to their legs... which is also why Orion (and practically all roller coasters) require you to have at least one full leg, or to have leg amputations below the knee.

Well, if a human had some organs that were only attached to their body with duct tape, and they went on the ride, those organs might fly off at the same spot.

That's exactly what crosses my mind about the rumors of seats flying off Orion.....well, it's really FALSE for that matter...  The fact is that there have been some water bottles sitting on the seats during Orion's testing mode and I don't really see anything wrong with that.   The seats are fine though.

3 hours ago, seven58o said:

I just want to know what caused it, and would it have happened if a human body was in those same seats instead lol..

They used Zephyr's water dummies which do not have legs only nubs, So some of them came loose and went flying out on the first drop.  So basically, maint dept took a shortcut which caused the PR dept a headache. 

Orion has to be one of the safest rollercoasters at Kings Island, if not the world. It is a B&M, and from my understanding, B&M has had literally no safety incidents caused by their rides. I know most people on this forum know this, but unfortunately most members of the general public do not.

On 7/7/2021 at 10:21 PM, FUN&ONLY! said:

Orion has to be one of the safest rollercoasters at Kings Island, if not the world. It is a B&M, and from my understanding, B&M has had literally no safety incidents caused by their rides. I know most people on this forum know this, but unfortunately most members of the general public do not.

Valravn had the incident of it colliding in the station a while ago but I don't think there were any major injuries. Definitely a safety incident in my mind though.

On 7/7/2021 at 12:28 PM, Shaggy said:

Kudos to Chad for addressing this.  Rumormongering by uninformed folks can really do social damage.

Unfortunately, the damage is done... Years from now, we'll still be hearing about someone who knows someone who saw someone die when the seats flew off that day...

And absolutely nothing you can say/do/show them will convince them that it didn't happen. They "know" it happened, and that's that...

They used Zephyr's water dummies which do not have legs only nubs, So some of them came loose and went flying out on the first drop.  So basically, maint dept took a shortcut which caused the PR dept a headache. 

Which is something that shouldn’t happen with proper management or leadership.

The little things can add up. Yes maybe they were taking a shortcut and didn’t want to go get the right test dummies. But … if you can’t take the time/energy/money to use the right testing then what else are they or are they not short cutting? Maybe it seems I’m blowing this up more than it should be but usually in a company if you short cut one thing, there’s a culture of short cutting a lot of things….


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