Does anyone have any thoughts on this failure? I'm curious what the typical inspection schedule and process is for a roller coaster like this.
I'm also curious about the root cause of the failure. I have a guess, but it would be interesting to see an actual failure report. I don't expect to see it in the news, though.
Here is a video of the crack moving as roller coaster cars go by.
Someone also got a photo of the crack a week prior before it had fully propagated through the support.
I don't see corrosion as a likely issue; there is no staining of the paint in the location of the crack and the crack likely propagated from an area protected from water by the joint to the track.
A stress concentration at the weld would be due to poor craftsmanship, which I mentioned earlier.
Good point about the lack of paint staining.