How many of you have been to a slingshot ride? I’ve always been curious about this and want to try it but I am SUPER scared!!! It looks really fun though but I have yet to find the courage to try it out. Maybe someday. Hehehehe!

Anyway, to satisfy my curiosity once again. I did some research about it and here’s what I found.

According to Wikipedia, the slingshot or also known as reverse Bungee/catapult bungee/ejection seat is a modern type of fairground ride that was invented by Troy Griffin in circa 1978 inspired by his dream of creating a safer yet more extreme bungee jumping experience.  

 The Slingshot manufactured by Funtime uses cables and a patented spring propulsion device incorporating up to 720 specially designed springs. The current model can propel riders 150 m high at speeds of 160 km per hour.

In August 1998, Jérôme Charron died in a reverse bungee ride accident at the Ottawa Exhibition in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada when he was hurled 40 m into the air before plummeting to his death as his harness had detached. In February 2000, the firm responsible for the ride, Anderson Ventures, was fined $145,000 for this incident. Provincial inspectors had inspected the ride just 4 days before the incident and approved it, but did not see the strap because it was in a nearby box.

Ordinarily, the bungee cord is changed to adjust the body weight of different riders. The operator in Ottawa instead used a lead between the carabiner and the bungee cord for this purpose. Using a lead is faster than changing the cord, so more rides can be offered; however, using a lead is less safe than switching bungee cords. The problem occurs when the lead cord wraps around the carabiner, tightens and through friction undoes the twisting safety mechanism that keeps the carabiner locked. In this case, the operator was using dual carabiners. On the bounce back up, the lead cord tightened, causing both carabiners to open. This fact was discovered by the Ottawa Police who investigated the death. A video of the incident depicts it. (Source)

On a lighter note, since I’ve been really curious about this ride I did some research on my own by watching YouTube videos and a lot of people seems to really enjoy the ride. Some are screaming for joy and some are extremely nervous and scared and I don’t blame them! Some seem to only went on the ride because of their significant others and I remember seeing one video where the girl was so furious and said that she’s breaking up with the boyfriend. Hahahaha! It’s crazy! Maybe the boyfriend forced her to go on the ride which is totally NOT cool!

Below is my favorite video of the slingshot ride. I couldn’t stop laughing after watching this and I watched it over and over again and still couldn’t stop laughing. 😀 If you watch the video you’ll see why I think it’s hilarious! At least this couple definitely enjoyed the ride. 😀