KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasStratosphere Insanity Ride Shut Down

Stratosphere Insanity Ride Shut Down

Contact Reporter Lindsay Patterson.

A Stratosphere thrill ride gave passengers a more insane ride than they asked for. The ride, Insanity, came to a halt and suspended two people over the edge for nearly an hour and a half.

As anyone can imagine, being suspended 900-feet above the ground can be frightening for the three minutes that the ride is designed to last. Two girls who were stranded for nearly 90 minutes early Wednesday morning say it is a ride that no one else should ever have to take.

Erica McKinnon says, "I asked the lady right before if it was too windy. She said we don't know how windy it is, but if it gets too windy the ride will stop."

The ride did stop for more than an hour. Stratosphere workers had to go to extreme lengths to pull the girls back to safety. Neither girl was hurt, but both were scared.

McKinnon says, "My body was frozen. I couldn't move. My arms and legs were numb. I couldn't feel nothing." To top off, more than 900-feet in the air, thoughts started racing through their heads.  Gabriela Cecineros told us, "That the ride was going to fall. I was scared of falling and not living."

Randy Fine, Vice President of Marketing for the Stratosphere, says the ride operated as planned. He stated, "The ride didn't malfunction, it performed exactly as it was supposed to."

Fine says the ride is designed to shut-off in extremely strong winds. He said, "The ride would bring it back when the winds subside, but they didn't so we had to bring it back manually."

Fine says the winds really didn't pick up to unsafe levels until mid-ride. He explains, "At 35 miles an hour we can operate, but while they were on it the winds gusted above 50 and stayed at that level."

The rides did reopened Wednesday morning, despite last night's scare, and Eyewitness News reporter Lindsay Patterson went to ride Insanity . 

One person at the ride said, "They wouldn't let us ride it if it wasn't safe." But the two girls say it would take someone who was insane to ride this Insanity in the future. 

Fine says if this happens again they will be more prepared to bring the ride in manually more quickly. He says new technology has been installed in recent weeks to make sure the ride is secure in high winds.