Verrückt (water slide)

Verrückt
Verrückt, as seen from Interstate 435
Schlitterbahn Kansas City
Coordinates 39°07′15″N 94°48′23″W / 39.1209°N 94.8064°W / 39.1209; -94.8064Coordinates: 39°07′15″N 94°48′23″W / 39.1209°N 94.8064°W / 39.1209; -94.8064
Status Closed
Cost $3.6 million[1]
Opening date July 10, 2014 (2014-07-10)
Closing date August 7, 2016 (2016-08-07)
General statistics
Designer Jeff Henry & John Schooley
Model Water coaster
Height 168 ft (51 m)
Speed 70 mph (110 km/h)
Max vertical angle 60°
Boats 10[2] boats. Riders are arranged 1 across in 3 rows for a total of 3 riders per boat.
Height restriction 54 in (137 cm)

Verrückt (German for crazy or insane) was a water slide at the Schlitterbahn Kansas City water park. At 168 feet 7 inches (51.38 m), the slide became the world's tallest water slide when it opened in 2014, surpassing the Kilimanjaro at Aldeia das Águas Park Resort.[3][4][5] Following a fatal incident involving a 10-year-old boy in 2016, the ride was closed permanently, and criminal charges led to the arrests of several individuals, including the park's owner and a co-designer of the ride.

History

In November 2012, owners of Schlitterbahn Kansas City announced plans for the creation of the world's tallest and fastest water slide, with it opening during their Summer season in 2013.[6] No name was given during the announcement, while specifications on the height of the ride were kept secret in order to ensure that the completed ride would set a world record for its creation.[7] The plans for the water slide were conceived as a spur of the moment idea by Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry, after he was asked by a team working on Travel Channel's Xtreme Waterparks what he was working on while attending a trade show.[8] After initial attempts to pitch the idea to vendors at the show failed,[2] Henry decided to build the slide himself,[9] with assistance on the design provided by ride designer John Schooley.[10]

In November 2013, the ride was officially named Verrückt, the German word for crazy or insane, with the opening date pushed back until the start of the park's 2014 season.[11][12] When the park opened, delays in construction and testing of the ride led to its opening date being pushed back to June 5,[13] and then June 29, after the lower portion of the ride was rebuilt, to coincide with a television special about the ride;[14] the park later cancelled this opening date and two days of media previews following further delays with the ride.[15] The ride was eventually completed and officially opened on July 10, 2014.[16]

Following its opening, Verrückt was voted the world's "Best New Waterpark Ride" at the 2014 Golden Ticket Awards.[17]

Design

Verrückt was designed to consist of two drops, the initial being a 17-story plunge, with a five-story uphill mid-section.[2] The ride was designed to accommodate the use of three-person rafts, each weighing 100 pounds (45 kg) and carried up by conveyor to the top of the slide, while riders were required to climb 264 steps to reach the top.[18] To avoid issues with rafts lifting off the slide, rider groups were weighed twice – once at the bottom and again at the top before riding – to make sure that their combined weight was between 400 pounds (180 kg) and 550 pounds (250 kg), and that no single rider weighed over 300 pounds (140 kg).[5][19]

The starting point of the ride, at 168 feet (51 m), was taller than either Niagara Falls or the foot-to-torch portion of the Statue of Liberty.[4] As it was beyond the 120 feet (37 m) that zoning codes permitted, the design required a variance (the height was increased from its initial plan of 148 feet (45 m), which was also above the limit).[20] After the announcement of the ride's height and the certification of its world record on April 25, 2014, Schlitterbahn tore down most of the lower part of the ride, in order to rebuild and re-engineer it after sandbags were seen flying off the ride during testing. As a result, the second drop was changed from 45 degrees to 22 degrees, an extra 5 feet (1.5 m) was added to the uphill portion of the ride to slow down rafts,[21][22] and a series of metal hoops and netting supported by them were added into areas where rafts had flown off in early testing.[20]

Fatal incident

On August 7, 2016, the 10-year-old son of Kansas state representative Scott Schwab died while riding Verrückt. The death occurred when the raft he was in went airborne and impacted a metal support of the netting, decapitating the child.[23][24] The other two passengers, both women, were injured in the incident — one suffered a broken jaw, while the other suffered a facial bone fracture and needed stitches.[25] In the immediate aftermath, the park was closed pending an inspection.[23][26] Although the park reopened three days later, the ride remained closed.[25][27][28]

An investigation found that the boy, who weighed 74 pounds (34 kg), had been allowed to sit in the front of the raft, rather than between the two women accompanying him — one weighed 275 pounds (125 kg), while the other weighed 197 pounds (89 kg).[29] This led to an uneven weight distribution that contributed to the raft going airborne, despite the cumulative weight of 546 pounds (248 kg) being under the maximum recommended weight of 550 pounds (250 kg).[29] Engineers who inspected the ride also commented that the ride's netting, used in areas where riders travel up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), "posed its own hazard because a rider moving at high speeds could easily lose a limb if they hit it".[20] Their findings revealed that the use of the metal brace and netting system in the design,[10] along with the use of hook and loop straps to restrain the riders,[30] went against guidelines set by ASTM F-24 Committee on Amusement Ride and Devices.[31] According to the guidelines, Verrückt should have incorporated the use of a rigid over-the-shoulder restraint for riders,[30] and an upstop mechanism to prevent the rafts from going airborne.[32]

On March 23, 2018, a grand jury issued an indictment against Schlitterbahn and Tyler Austin Miles, former director of operations, charging them with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated battery, aggravated child endangerment, and interference with law enforcement.[10][33][34] The indictment accused the park of negligence, concealing design flaws, and downplaying the severity of previous injuries reported on the ride.[35][10] Three days later, on March 26, Jeff Henry was arrested in Cameron County, Texas, in connection with the incident.[36] A day later, on March 27, the Kansas Attorney General's office released a new indictment against Henry, co-designer John Schooley, and Henry & Sons Construction Company — privately-owned by Schlitterbahn — charging them with second-degree murder in addition to 17 other felonies.[2][37][38][39] Schooley was arrested at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after returning from a trip to China on April 2, 2018.[40]

The 2018 indictment against Schlitterbahn wrote that Henry and Schooley "lacked technical expertise to design a properly functioning water slide" and did not perform standard engineering procedures or calculations on how the slide would operate.[10] Instead they used "crude trial-and-error methods" to test its performance, out of haste to launch the ride.[10] According to court documents, Schooley conceded that “If we actually knew how to do this, and it could be done that easily, it wouldn’t be that spectacular.”[41]

Closure

On November 22, 2016, Schlitterbahn announced that Verrückt would be demolished following the closure of a criminal investigation.[42][43] In July 2018, A judge approved a plan by the park to disassemble the ride beginning the following September.[44][45] The ride's teardown was placed on hold indefinitely in August 2018, resulting from ongoing discussions in multiple court cases that were filed after the incident.[46]

References

  1. ↑ Powell, William (August 27, 2014). "The World's Tallest Water Slide Is Insane". Outside Online.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "State of Kansas v. Jeffrey Wayne Henry, John Timothy Schooley, Henry & Sons Construction Company" (PDF). Wyandotte County, Kansas. March 21, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Tallest water slide". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Janela, Mike (May 5, 2014). "Meet Verrückt: the world's new tallest water slide". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on May 10, 2014. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "All NEW Verruckt | Schlitterbahn Kansas City Water Park". www.schlitterbahn.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ "World's tallest water coaster coming to Schlitterbahn Kansas City". Amusement Today. November 20, 2012. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  7. ↑ Stagemeyer, Suzanna (November 14, 2012). "Schlitterbahn announces cryptic plans for record-breaking waterslide in Kansas City, Kan. – Kansas City Business Journal". Kansas City Business Journal. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  8. ↑ Curtis, Bryan (September 10, 2014). "The Wet Stuff". Grantland.
  9. ↑ Herndon, Astead (June 26, 2014). "World's tallest water slide finally open | CNN Travel". CNN Travel.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vockrodt, Steve; Rizzo, Tony; Baurer, Laura; Rice, Glenn E. (March 23, 2018). "Schlitterbahn corporation, ex-manager indicted in Verruckt water slide death". Kansas City Star.
  11. ↑ Zimmerman, Neetzan. "The World's Tallest Waterslide Looks as Terrifying As It Sounds". Gawker. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  12. ↑ Rizzo, Tom; Darby, Adam. "Verruckt, the world's tallest and fastest water slide, is taking shape in KCK". The Wichita Eagle. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  13. ↑ McCallister, Laura. "Schlitterbahn's Verruckt 'not behaving properly'". KCTV. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  14. ↑ Foster, Brian. "World's tallest water slide to open in late June". KMBC. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  15. ↑ Arnett, Dugan (June 27, 2016). "After third delay, no new opening date for Schlitterbahn's Verrückt (with new POV video)". The Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  16. ↑ Eveld, Edward (July 9, 2014). "Schlitterbahn:First riders on Verrückt at Schlitterbahn love the 'rush' (with video)". The Kansas City Star. The McClatchy Company. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Park and ride winners". Amusement Today. September 2014. Archived from the original on September 9, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Schlitterbahn cancels media preview of world's tallest water slide". KMBC. June 26, 2014. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  19. ↑ Draper, Bill (August 8, 2016). "AP first-person account of riding the Verruckt, the world's tallest waterslide". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  20. 1 2 3 Vockrodt, Steve; Canon, Scott; Bergen, Katy. "The making of Schlitterbahn's Verruckt water slide: Too much, too fast?". The Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Opening of world's tallest water slide delayed". USA Today. Associated Press. June 27, 2014. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  22. ↑ Laresse, Steve (July 7, 2014). "Verruckt: Designer of tallest slide takes the plunge". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 24, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  23. 1 2 Calvo, Amanda; Chan, Melissa (August 9, 2016). "What We Know About the Young Boy Decapitated on the World's Tallest Water Slide". TIME.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  24. ↑ Raine, Naja (August 9, 2016). "Caleb Schwab, 10, Decapitated in Water Slide Accident, Police Confirm". People. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  25. 1 2 Graflage, Stephanie; Pulley, Mary (August 8, 2016). "KCK police release details about water park tragedy; pastor provides statement on 10-year-old boy killed". WDAF. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016.
  26. ↑ Shapiro, Emily (August 9, 2016). "Kansas Waterpark to Reopen Wednesday After Boy's Death". ABC News.
  27. ↑ Campbell, Matt; Cronkleton, Robert; Adler, Eric (August 7, 2016). "Son of Kansas lawmaker dies on Verrückt slide at Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kan". The Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  28. ↑ Olen, Helaine (August 8, 2016). "A Boy Died on This Water Slide—in One of the Many States That Barely Ensure That Rides Are Safe". Slate. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016.
  29. 1 2 West, Tara. "Verruckt Waterslide Death Result Of Poor Weight Distribution? Experts Say Caleb Schwab Should Have Been In Center Seat". Insquistr. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016.
  30. 1 2 "State of Kansas v. Tyler Austin Miles, Schlitterbahn Waterpark of Kansas City, Kansas". March 28, 2018. pp. 16–17. According to ASTM, hook-and-loop material should never be used as a safety device on an amusement ride. The correct restraint system for a ride like Verrückt would be a Class 5 restraint consisting of rigid overhead shoulder bars with a locking lap restraint.
  31. ↑ "ASTM International". www.waterparks.org.
  32. ↑ "State of Kansas v. Tyler Austin Miles, Schlitterbahn Waterpark of Kansas City, Kansas". March 28, 2018. p. 16. The rafts were designed and constructed without any "upstop" mechanisms to prevent rafts from going airborne. Upstop mechanisms have been used for decades and are common safety features in the amusement ride industry.
  33. ↑ "State of Kansas v. Tyler Austin Miles, Schlitterbahn Waterpark of Kansas City, Kansas". Wyandotte County, Kansas. March 28, 2018.
  34. ↑ Phillips, Kristine (March 25, 2018). "A boy was decapitated on a waterslide. The park knew the ride could kill people, officials say". Washington Post.
  35. ↑ Koch, Makenzie (March 23, 2018). "Court documents detail alleged negligence in design of Schlitterbahn water slide that killed 10-year-old". fox4kc.com. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  36. ↑ Vockrodt, Steve (March 26, 2018). "Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry arrested in Texas on Verruckt-related charges". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  37. ↑ Vockrodt, Steve; Rizzo, Tony (March 27, 2018). "Schlitterbahn executives charged with second-degree murder in Verruckt case". The Kansas City Star.
  38. ↑ Hanna, John (March 27, 2018). "Park owner, slide designer charged with murder in boy's waterpark death". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press.
  39. ↑ Brocchetto, Marilia; Gray, Melissa (March 27, 2018). "Kansas water park executives charged with murder in boy's death". CNN.
  40. ↑ Cronkleton, Robert A.; Vockrodt, Steve (April 6, 2018). "Schlitterbahn's Verruckt designer John Schooley arrested in Dallas". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  41. ↑ Barnes, Tom (March 24, 2018). "Designers of water slide that decapitated boy 'had no technical qualifications'". The Independent. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  42. ↑ Rothfield, Ariel (November 23, 2016). "Schlitterbahn Kansas City announces Verruckt water slide to be removed after child death in August". 41 Action News Staff. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016.
  43. ↑ Porter, Toriano; Bauer, Laura. "Schlitterbahn will close Verrückt water slide where 10-year-old boy was killed". The Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  44. ↑ Vockrodt, Steve; Fox, Lauren (July 12, 2018). "Schlitterbahn to tear down Verruckt water slide in KCK where young boy died in 2016". Kansas City Star. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  45. ↑ Romo, Vanessa (July 12, 2018). "Court Grants Permission To Destroy World's Tallest Waterslide". National Public Radio. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  46. ↑ http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Plans-to-tear-down-water-slide-where-boy-died-on-hold-491682851.html
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