The Mach 3 is one of the tallest and most thrilling rides at K-Days, but less than two weeks ago, it stalled in mid-air at the Calgary Stampede with seven people on board – including a family from Edmonton.
Karl Sibbons and his 13-year-old son Alex OHare had been on the Mach 3 once before, at K-Days, but Sibbons wasn’t the biggest fan.
“Just something about sky, ground, sky, ground that just upsets the internal organs,” he laughed.
But he let Alex convince him to give it one more go.
“I suppose just male pride more than anything else. Having a 13-year-old son that likes to take jabs at you every time you’re scared to do anything.”
READ MORE: Several people stuck on ‘Mach 3’ ride at Calgary Stampede
Along with Sibbons’ girlfriend, Abby Sherstan, the trio were strapped in.
Sibbons had a premonition just before the ride started up.
“This just doesn’t feel right,” he said. “Having a 17-year-old sort of slightly nervous teenager having to use all his strength and body weight to get the harness to click in on me is normally a bit of a bad sign and I probably shouldn’t be on this ride.”
After a few rotations, something went wrong.
“Sure enough, the ride ended up breaking down, which really just served to prove my point that I shouldn’t have been on the ride in the first place,” he joked.
Watch below: The ‘Mach 3’ amusement park ride broke down mid-air at the Calgary Stampede, leaving several people stuck for 30 minutes.
OHare didn’t know what was happening.
“All of a sudden we’re spinning around on a ride that goes pretty fast, then we just stopped,” he said.
Seated alone, OHare’s seat was stuck facing the sky.
“(I was) just relaxing. I had the sun in my face and I just laid down.”
But Sibbons and Sherstan were on the opposite chair, facing the ground – held up only by their chest harnesses.
“It started really scary. We were talking about how we could survive if we fell, and then it just got really uncomfortable,” Sherstan explained.
READ MORE: Mach 3 undergoes testing at Calgary Stampede after ride malfunctions
She was able to shift some of her weight off of her chest, but Sibbons couldn’t.
“I started to feel uncomfortable, a little panicked and short of breath. Then, according to everyone else, I was in and out of consciousness,” he said.
“Sometimes my legs and arms were hanging out and other times I’d wake up and freak out and then I’d be out again.”
Though the couple couldn’t hear what was being discussed below them, they saw workers approaching the power box.
“At one point they pulled the power reset,” Sherstan explained. “Both Karl and I were like, ‘Does that release the harnesses? Because you should probably tell us if it does!'”
It turns out, it didn’t impact the restraints.
About 20 minutes later, a hero came to their rescue.
“Somebody had managed to climb up the middle of the ride with a rope, and in true Stampede fashion, had lassoed the end of the ride, thrown the rope down and a bunch of people physically hauled it down by hand to get it to the bottom,” Sibbons explained.
With his feet on the ground, Sibbons was still experiencing pain in his ribs and having trouble breathing, so he was taken to hospital as a precaution. X-rays confirmed he was alright.
The Mach 3 was shut down for the rest of Stampede.
AEDARSA (Alberta Elevating Devices & Amusement Rides Safety Association), the provincial safety regulator for amusement rides, determined what was wrong.
Dean McKernon is the safety services manager.
“There was a safety sensor that failed, causing the ride to stop operation and that’s what that sensor is supposed to do,” he said.
After repairs and a thorough inspection, North American Midway’s Mach 3 ride is back up and running at K-Days.
“In order for them to put that ride back into operation, they were required to prove to us what the failure was, and what they’ve done to prevent the failure from happening again, and then we verified that the ride was back up and operating as designed by the manufacturer.”
READ MORE: K-Days closes Fire Ball ride after deadly accident at Ohio State Fair
But lessons have been learned through the experience.
“We were satisfied that the ride safety circuit operated as designed and stopped the ride when it was supposed to,” McKernon said.
“We addressed any shortcomings that they might have had with their evacuation procedures and once we discussed it with them were satisfied, they followed their evacuation procedures. During the evacuation a few things happened they felt they could improve on. We were notified of them and they’ve taken steps to update their policy on them.”
Sibbons said North American Midway refunded the cost of their tickets, offered his family free rodeo tickets and said they were willing to pay any associated medical costs.
He was impressed with their professionalism, and holds no grudges.
“I don’t care whether it’s an airplane, car, motorcycle or midway ride, it’s a machine and machines break down. That’s a fact. No matter how well you assess them, inspect them, maintain them – machines break down.”
He did have one concern, though, when it comes to the employees running each ride.
“I would prefer to see someone sitting there that actually knows the machine, the ride, how it operates, how to deal with it, how to fix it, what to do in an emergency – instead of waiting for more experienced people from around the midway to come to the ride and come to that conclusion.”
Sherstan echoed that sentiment.
“Just more basic information for the people operating, because they didn’t know what was going on. It just looked like they didn’t understand because this had never happened before.”
To that, McKernon delivered a possible explanation.
“His responsibilities might have been, once he determines there has been a problem, to notify the proper people and they would take over the emergency evacuation,” he said.
“He was probably doing what he was required to do.”
The incident hasn’t deterred the trio from going to the midway.
“I would never advise people to stay away from carnivals and fun fairs. The rides, through my childhood and into my adulthood, have always been a great source of enjoyment,” Sibbons said.
But the adults are not keen on trying the rides just yet.
“I’m probably going to steer clear of them for a while, although we are going back to K-Days this evening. That’s because I’ve got a 13-year old son who’s just foolish. He’s bulletproof, fearless with these kinds of things.”
OHare confirmed his father’s assumption, saying he’ll go on all the rides he can.