Fourth of July Monorail Incident

[freepixie]

Sentential just released it: Austin Henneberg, 21.

Personally didn't know him but looked him up on FB and saw we have a lot of mutual friends. I couldn't imagine what they're going through right now and his family.

Thank you. The name wasn't familiar, and I looked him up on FB too, but I can't tell much from the pic. I'm still so sick and sad about this!

[Ladyfair]

I'm just devastated to see this! Sending hugs, prayers, thoughts, everything to his work and home families. Saying a little prayer for all CMs today to help you make it through with your usual smiles.

[praline3001]

Hi everyone. As soon as I heard the news I had to come on here and check to see if you monorails guys were okay.
The whole thing is just so sad. We always stay on the monorail resorts and have met several of the pilots over the years and WOW they are so nice!

I know all of you who are in the *know* can't say much due to the investigation so I won't bother asking EXCEPT does anyone know if the track or the station took any damage? It looks like pink was going at a pretty fast speed when it hit and I was wondering if the crash caused damage to either station or rails?

As sad as this was, it could have happened right at park closing with both monorails packed with guest and CM's. If it HAD to happen, at least it happened with a minimum of casualties. If each monorail holds 300 people, that could have been 600 injured/killed rather than just one... granted even one is too much but I am sure you understand what I am saying.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Talk about something coming from out of "left field", I would not have thought of such an accident happening, especially reading about the monorail pilots here, and the ideals of safety above all else.

very sad.

[sandravb79]

I am so sorry for the CM who died.
We were riding upfront in monorail pink in April. It feels so weird/ strange to see those pictures like that now.

:(

[kurtisnelson]

I feel sorry for Eddie, he looked like he was pretty much in shock.
Here's what a couple of us seem to have deduced:
Purple was stationary somewhere, was told to hold by central as pink was having some problems. Pink held MAPO override to backup enough to then go back forward onto the switch to shop. For some reason, Pink did not stop in time (stuck MCU, driver error, etc) and backed into purple at 15MPH.

[Tinker Bell]

someone will post a link and info soon, but I just wanted to let you all know I am ok and was not involved. Please pray for those who were.

I'm so glad you are ok! Immediately after I heard about the accident I thought: "I hope Big Wallaby is ok." However, the whole thing is still so sad. I can't imagine what his family is going thru right now.

[Whazzup]

I saw this post on another board. Could faulty brakes have contributed to the scenario?

A guest posted they had just ridden on the pink monorail in the front all the way around the MK loop a few days ago (Sunday June 28th). They said the brakes did feel odd when coming into the resorts. They did not feel smooth and always jerked a great deal on and off. Even another guy commented to his friends that it felt like it needed to be serviced. Could be nothing, but as many times as this person has ridden the monorails, it did feel odd, every time they would come into a resort and brake.

Wow, what a shame to think that 15mph could do that much damage.

[Monorail_Red]

I saw this post on another board. Could faulty brakes have contributed to the scenario?

A guest posted they had just ridden on the pink monorail in the front all the way around the MK loop a few days ago (Sunday June 28th). They said the brakes did feel odd when coming into the resorts. They did not feel smooth and always jerked a great deal on and off. Even another guy commented to his friends that it felt like it needed to be serviced. Could be nothing, but as many times as this person has ridden the monorails, it did feel odd, every time they would come into a resort and brake.

Well remember, monorails don't brake as smoothly as cars do. So to the average guest they would think that the brakes are rough.

Wow, what a shame to think that 15mph could do that much damage.

The front cabs are just made of fiberglass. It's just a big crumple zone.

[Zazu]

Wow, what a shame to think that 15mph could do that much damage.

Well, a 50-ton train moving at 15mph has about 1,000,000 joules of energy. For those not familiar with joules, another term is watt-seconds. So, if you apply a million watts of energy for a full second....

Fiberglass shells -- and monorail pilots -- stood no chance.