The UK's forgotten killer human catapult flat ride

[Sam]

I doubt many of you will have heard of its existance - it's very obscure - but at one point the from the late 90's to 2002 the UK could legitimately lay claim to having the most dangerous and strangest flat ride in the world.

I give you...

The Human Trebuchet at Middlemoor Water Park



A water sports centre? With absolutely no experience of creating safe theme park rides? Building a wooden replica of a medieval weapon for use by the public? Yeah, that sounds safe.

For about £40 you could have the privilege of being launched 70ft into the air and land in a net the size of a tennis court. It was launched about 50 times a year. In November 2002, a Oxford student named Dino Yankof missed the net by inches and died. The catapult seems to have been quickly dismantled after that, and no mention of it is made by Middlemoor these days.

The warning signs were there, as a 44 year old woman broke her pelvis in 1999. That launch was actually filmed, as you can see at the end of this video of the trebuchet in action:

Talk about a disaster waiting to happen...

So what do we think of possibly the UK's greatest lost flat ride?

[DiogoJ42]

Wow.


I'm speechless.

[Benedique]

What.The...

I can't believe anybody would have even attempted a go on that. It seems a miracle in it's self that there was only one death & one serious injury.

I can't believe Britain, one of the strictest places in the world for health and safety, could be home to such a death trap. My gob is smacked!

[DiogoJ42]

Still, if you're gonna go, you may as well go in a spectacular way. In fact, I think this would be my chosen method of execution.

[Pennywise]

Wha... wha... what the?

How the hell was that allowed? In England of all places?


Found BBC Report on the death.

Safety doubts over catapult death

Several people were concerned about the catapult's safety
Stricter safety measures may have prevented the death of a man who was killed when he was flung from a human catapult, an inquest jury has ruled.

Oxford University student Kostydin Yankov, 19, of Bulgaria, missed a net after being thrown 100ft (30.5m) from the medieval-style contraption.

He was at Middlemoor Water Park, Somerset, with a university extreme sports club when he died in 2002.

A narrative verdict was returned at the inquest in Taunton, Somerset.

Jurors found the incident may not have happened had catapult operators Richard Wicks, 34, of Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, and David Aitkenhead, 46, of Fiddington, near Bridgwater, Somerset, imposed stricter safety measures.

Mr Yankov, a biochemistry student known to his friends as Dino, was one of five members of the Oxford Stunt Factory club to use the catapult on the day he died.

Known as a trebuchet, the catapult was a medieval siege weapon favoured by the Romans that hurled rocks over castle walls and plague-ridden bodies at the enemy.

A rope known as a strop that helped fire the mechanism was changed on the day of Mr Yankov's death, but not tested, jurors were told.

Thrill-seekers due to carry out stunts on the catapult were growing increasingly concerned that other jumpers were not landing in the middle of the net.

Before Mr Yankov's jump, the weights that controlled the length of the rope were also altered.

He suffered multiple abdominal and chest injuries in the failed stunt and later died at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Returning the verdict, the jury foreman said: "The accident would probably have been prevented if a further set of tests had been performed after changing the strop."

Mr Wicks and Mr Aitkenhead were cleared of manslaughter in connection with Mr Yankov's death in May 2004, on the direction of a judge due to a lack of evidence.

[Blaze]

I'd go on it. If the net was bigger I wouldn't even think twice.

[onair]

That is shocking. I'm quite a daredevil but that net just did not look big enough, even tho it might have been the size of a tennis court. Was the ambulance already on standby...

Found another video on youtube just look at the way they are launched lol. The launch could kill you 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67fFDiPRsrk&NR=1

[Khanage]

Shocked and confused.

[NeilHD]

I remember this when it happened. I was quite at the time.

[shane790_0]

Not a chance in hell of me ever going on that :!:

[ThrillJunkie]

A remember this. I drove past this when it was operating.

Truly Shocking!

If you were lucky enough to hit the net you've got to dodge the wooden net supports. If i remember they wouldn't do to many people at a day as they had to weigh each person and work out the weight they would need on the opposite end of the arm get them to the net because everyone is a different weight they needed different counter balances on the arm to increase/decrease the swing speed.

[Blaze]

The last bit isn't shocking, it's the same practise when you bungee jump, sky dive or anythign else like that.

I would have had a go if the net was bigger, no question.