Dozen Stuck on Roller Coaster for Hours

A dozen Six Flags visitors expected to soar like Superman yesterday; instead, they got stuck in the air for two hours. The Superman Ultimate Flight ride at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in northern California stopped working when twelve riders were 150 feet in the air, at the ride's peak, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald. They stayed there until the ride could be restarted. No one was hurt.

In the meantime, firefighters brought the passengers water via a crane. Had a mechanic not been able to get the ride moving again, firefighters would have brought each person down in the crane's bucket. One scary detail: At one point the riders tried to "shake" the ride to get it rolling again; the Times-Herald wasn't sure if they decided to try the tactic on their own, or were instructed to do so. The ride is closed for inspections; park officials still aren't sure what stopped it from working. The roller coaster, which opened June 30, had also stopped for as long as 10 minutes two weeks ago, according to a mom. (More Superman stories.)