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Scroll down to read the Tale of the High Flyer below.
The High Flyer was purchased and delivered to our Brantford shop in the fall of 2009. Our hope was to have it in operation for our 2010 fair season to add a super spectacular thrill ride to our midway ride line-up. The ride was erected and tested in our Winter Quarters in November 2009. The High Flyer performed flawlessly.
All rides that have never operated in Ontario have to be inspected and passed by the TSSA, Ontario’s Ride Safety Authority and approved by the ESA, Ontario’s electrical body. The TSSA will not inspect or issue an operating AD number license unless the ride has been certified and tested by an independent Ontario engineer. In addition, the TSSA’s own engineering department has to approve the amusement device. This process is both time consuming and expensive, costing several thousands of dollars.
This spring, in April, in order to facilitate the inspection process, we began dismantling the High Flyer. The dismantling requires the tower to be lowered by a large hydraulic cylinder. Over the winter, water had seeped into the cylinder and froze. The cylinder had to be repaired. Repairing a 20 ft (3m) cylinder is a major and expensive operation, over $7000. The repaired cylinder was returned from the hydraulic shop in May. The ride could then be set-up, tested and inspected.
The TSSA required additional emergency stop features and changes. These changes had to be re-engineered and installed before the final TSSA inspection could be completed. In June, the TSSA has issued the Flyer’s AD number. All that is left to do is to obtain ESA approval.
Because the ride was manufactured in the UK, many of the electrical components did not have CSA approvals. The ride has some 18 major and minor electrical components that either have to be changed or altered before the ESA will pass on the device. We are now into mid July trying desperately to comply with the ESA regulations.
We apologize for being unable to live up to our commitments to our fairs. It has been a very expensive lesson for all of us; for our fairs it means lost revenue and for us a major compliance costs expense. We are still unable to predict when the ride will hit the road but we think very shortly. It all depends on the ESA approval .