CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carowinds announced how it plans to repair the Fury 325 roller coaster that developed a large crack last week.
The theme park announced that after consulting and inspecting the entire ride with Bolliger & Mabillard, the company that manufactured Fury 325, it has determined the crack formed along a weld line in the steel column of the support beam.
"Working in close coordination with B&M, we are planning to remove and replace the existing support column," Carowinds said in a statement. "The new support column, which is being fabricated by B&M, is expected to be delivered to the park next week."
Carowinds did not provide an estimated date on when Fury 325 could reopen. The coaster has been closed to the public ever since the crack was reported to security last week.
Carowinds said it will conduct an extensive series of tests to ensure the safety of the coaster once the new beam is installed. Those tests will include operating the ride for 500 full cycles with engineers inspecting the entire ride throughout that period. Once the tests are completed, B&M and a third-party testing firm will each perform inspections to ensure the ride exceeds all safety specifications.
"B&M is regarded as one of the premier ride manufacturers in the world, with an impeccable reputation for quality and engineering," Carowinds' statement reads. "It's important to understand that rides like Fury 325 are designed with redundancies in place to ensure the safety of guests in the event of an issue such as this."
Carowinds said it plans to implement additional inspection procedures to go along with regularly scheduled inspections. Those new procedures will include the regular use of drones to inspect hard-to-reach areas.
Once inspections and testing have been completed, Carowinds said it will work with the North Carolina Department of Labor to prepare the ride for reopening.
WCNC Charlotte reached out to the North Carolina Department of Labor about the crack. The Department said once the repair has been made, it will do its own check for safety. The check is the same as the annual evaluation.
Since the closure, WCNC Charlotte asked Carowinds for a detailed explanation of what a daily inspection looks like. It pointed us to a website that explained the 10 things to know regarding safety. It said mechanics cycle the rides unoccupied each morning to ensure the ride and its systems are properly functioning.
Because the support beam isn't close to the starting platform, we asked if there was a special test to look at the support beams of if staff walked underneath the coaster. Carowinds referred WCNC Charlotte back to the website, which didn't have the answer.
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