Duck boat tragedy "storm came out of nowhere" BS

[MossRoad]

Let's face it... not many people from any area, rural, urban and in between, has ever been taught boating safety. I wouldn't expect them to know what to be prepared for. It's 100% up to the owner of that company to train their operators to protect their clients. They didn't.

How many of us have ever gone to an amusement park, hopped on the ride, buckled up, pulled that guard down over ourselves and kids, and just gone along for the thrill ride?

And how many of us have done that even after seeing scenes of people being injured or even dying on an amusement ride after knowing they are inherently dangerous? All of us.

While we're preaching how those people should have been responsible for themselves, think about that. Between 2000 and 2007, 22 people died on amusement park rides. Where's the call for bans on those? Where's the preaching about people should know how to escape them? You can't. You're locked into the seat. That's worse than a duck boat ride.

There comes a time when you have to trust someone else. You do it every day that you get into your car. You litterally trust thousands of people each day to watch out for you. Yet tens of thousands of people die in car accidents each and every year. We all assess risk, then take that risk anyway. And we sometimes assume it must be safe, so off we go, not even thinking about what could happen.

Yes, it was a horrible accident.
Yes, loss of life probably could have been avoided if the operators would have made people wear life preservers and never put canopies on these vehicles.
But no, the riders should not be blamed for not taking matters into their own hands if they've never been taught boating safety. They trusted the operators to keep them safe. It's in no way their fault. No way.

 

[Industrial Toys]

If a commercial vessel can't easily accommodate the putting on of life jackets, maybe their use should be mandatory. But that would be a major inconvenience for passengers and operator. Security is usually that.

Many ships carry the necessary life boats that often can't be launched when the ship is listing or in heavy seas. Same kind of thing..

And to have people in life jackets for a trip that is mostly land based is also difficult.

 

[Liquidsilver]

I'm a take charge type person so if I had been on the boat, the preservers would have been handed out in a calm manner, people helping people, and would have been close to knifing the windows/top as weather worsened.

I like to hope that I would have done the same... but it's hard to know if I actually would have.

I'm more sure that I could have swum out from the trap, but would I have drowned trying to pull my loved ones out? I don't know that either.

As I remember the rides... it's a theatrical entertainment kind of ride, with lots of time to waste on the driver singing, telling stories, making fun of other vehicles in traffic... it would only add to the 'adventure' spirit of the ride, to have the passengers don their own life jackets as they make a big whoop about splashing the duck into the water... even on a sunny day. Dang, I wish they had done that. Then when the **** thing sank, all the poor souls would have been ALIVE and bobbing on top of the water.

 

[MossRoad]

That is interesting and I bet will be a key part of the decision by the DUCK captains to go in the water. I suspect the captains did not see the storm coming but if the lake is wide, it sure seem like they should have seen the wind/rain front unless it was a white squall or some other not easily seen wind storm. The NTSB will report on the weather.

Later,
Dan

They said the winds hit 60mph. That's a mile a minute. The duck boat can hit 5mph in calm water. That's about 450 feet per minute.

At that rate, they couldn't get across one and a half football fields before the wind caught them.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I remember those old amusement park rides. With the little gas engine and power take off for each ride, and that sketchy looking carny, that I swear would delight in pushing the thing to the max when he noticed you were in distress and clearly not enjoying yourself.

 

[MossRoad]

I remember those old amusement park rides. With the little gas engine and power take off for each ride, and that sketchy looking carny, that I swear would delight in pushing the thing to the max when he noticed you were in distress and clearly not enjoying yourself.

There used to be a little amusement park in NE Indiana, near Angola, called The Fun Spot. It had a bunch of old carnival rides mounted permanently to concrete pads. Quite a little thrill park. You could ride the Pukatron or Barf-O-Matic over and over again, all day long. Great place.

The rides creaked and groaned and you could see all the cables and connecting rods.... I miss that place. It's been closed a while now.

 

[turnkey4099]

They looked like regular truck tires. The flotation of them would致e be significant.

You can dthrow a mounted truck tire in the water and it will sink like a stone. Volume wise, there isn't that much air.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I saw a youtube video the other day about a three wheel off road trike, that went through the ice. It came back up wheels up. It just got me to thinking.

 

[ArlyA]

Pictured here is a standard life raft seen on the rear of this boat. These are made to be lunched in all conditions, including whatever angle of your boat is while sinking.

If a commercial vessel can't easily accommodate the putting on of life jackets, maybe their use should be mandatory. But that would be a major inconvenience for passengers and operator. Security is usually that.

Many ships carry the necessary life boats that often can't be launched when the ship is listing or in heavy seas. Same kind of thing..

And to have people in life jackets for a trip that is mostly land based is also difficult.

 

[MossRoad]

Pictured here is a standard life raft seen on the rear of this boat. These are made to be lunched in all conditions, including whatever angle of your boat is while sinking.

That life boat is almost as big as the duck boat that sank.