Actor In Christmas Pageant Dies After 25 Foot Fall
- Thread starterEboy87
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Followup, coroner's ruling (text and video): Costume Kept Performer's Harness From Clasping - Cincinnati News Story - WLWT Cincinnati.
theatretechguy
Member
Ugh, it sounds like their trying to place their blame on her. Sickening.
More like trying to prove she knew better than to do what she did.
I was interested to see that it has gone to the county prosecuters office as it had previously been deemed an accident by the police and locally, no criminal prosecution was being sought. While I hope that there is criminal charges sought, in order to help to prevent another similar tragedy, I hope that there is no jail time involved. I hope that if there is anyone found guilty that the sentence would include public service in making others aware of the dangers of arial acts and to leave it to the professionals.
Please note, I don't want anyone to think I have any dislike for anyone involved in this church or its community and I want to make sure that I don't want to see anyone "punished" because of this tragedy. I see "justice" being served by having this senseless tragedy provide a means to prevent other tragedies which is why I think that this should go to court, and something beyond a civil case. I continue to keep this family and those who witnessed this event in my prayers.
Please note, I don't want anyone to think I have any dislike for anyone involved in this church or its community and I want to make sure that I don't want to see anyone "punished" because of this tragedy. I see "justice" being served by having this senseless tragedy provide a means to prevent other tragedies which is why I think that this should go to court, and something beyond a civil case. I continue to keep this family and those who witnessed this event in my prayers.
In all likelihood, sending a report to the prosecutor in a fatality situation would probably be standard procedure regardless of the circumstances. The report may very well say the manner of death was accidental and no charges are recommended.
Even in a case like this one, criminal negligence would be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil suits have a much lower standard of proof.
Typically Rope and Tissue refers to acrobatics preformed on a Circus "thread" which is a specific type of rope, the kind you see arielists hanging by their teeth from, Big, thick, relatively soft, spiral or twisted lay.
Tissue is typically a term used for Spanish silk. Their was a tv commercial for Yogurt or something else completely stupid not too long ago, where this lady goes running up to what looks like big curtains, they wrap around her arms and she swings on them. That's what's often reffered to as Spainish Silk, or tissue. Again these are both real common Cirque' de Soliel kind things. They make it look so easy Everybody thinks they can do it.
Ruinexplorer , I'm right there with you. I have nothing against any one church, but I do want to make sure this doesn't happen again. I would not, however, be dissapointed to see someone spend some locked up over this. This was truely negligant, I haven't yet read the follow up story that Derek posted but even that aside, this was a completely avoidable injury. An Accident is what happens when life smacks you up side the head, like when a boulder rolls off the side of Mt. Hood at the exact right time to intercept a car doing the speed limt on Hwy26, killing all those in the car. An incompetent arielist allowed to perform, over an audience, with no saftey net, is not an accident. It's manslaughter, at best, and Involuntary Homicide at worse.
Oh, I agree, this probably won't go to trial. It also would be very hard to prosecute. If it did go to trial, regardless of outcome, it would help set a precedent for this type of effect. Most certainly, fewer groups would try to do it, at least in Ohio, due to the risk of prosecution. That alone would help prevent another tragedy.
I saw as a suggestion on another list that experts in our field, such as Bill Sapsis, help organizations outside our field to understand that this is being done. In other words, make HOWs aware that there are professional groups that deal with flying effects and can help them safely pull it off. Also, letting the mountaineering/climbing community be aware that they may be approached on this type of effect and how to assist them in directing the requestor in the right direction.
My problem is that I feel that this will just be ruled and accident, justice will not be done (I don't think a civil judgement in this instance is justice), and we will see it happen again BECAUSE it is ruled an accident. That is the tragic nature of our "justice" system.
The video does show the gear and explanation
I wrote a note to the editor of church production magazine. Encouraging them to write a safety article concerning safely flying performers in a house of worship. And the need for expert/professional help doing so.
Past articles concerning rigging basics stress getting expert help. (Do a search for “safety” on their page)
I believe that there other house of worship production trade magazines out there that might take a hint and publish informational articles. If we take the time to send them a few words on how important the subject is.
The one thing we do not want, is to cover this same subject again next december.
I wrote a note to the editor of church production magazine. Encouraging them to write a safety article concerning safely flying performers in a house of worship. And the need for expert/professional help doing so.
Past articles concerning rigging basics stress getting expert help. (Do a search for “safety” on their page)
I believe that there other house of worship production trade magazines out there that might take a hint and publish informational articles. If we take the time to send them a few words on how important the subject is.
The one thing we do not want, is to cover this same subject again next december.
I have also submitted a letter to the editor for Technologies for Worship Magazine. Hopefully this will get some more recognition, especially on how to do this right. Maybe we should send requests to rock climbing magazines as well?
I was perusing this article where the coroner deems this an accident. What I hope the prosecuters do, that the coroner neglected to do, is to question members of the theatrical and circus community that are responsible for this type of stunt. The coroner only interviewed rock climbing experts. Why would they be the only experts interviewed since she was not rock climbing? If there was more of an investigation done, there would be more evidence of negligence.
I was perusing this article where the coroner deems this an accident. What I hope the prosecuters do, that the coroner neglected to do, is to question members of the theatrical and circus community that are responsible for this type of stunt. The coroner only interviewed rock climbing experts. Why would they be the only experts interviewed since she was not rock climbing? If there was more of an investigation done, there would be more evidence of negligence.
Got the PLSN Newsletter email today and saw that there was a brief article on this accident:
I'm somewhat surprised that an industry source such as PLSN is not approaching this from a similar angle as we all are. They don't even mention the fact that her harness was only for climbing, or that she was suspended over the audience. I would have expected that an industry source like PLSN would have been a little tougher on the church, noting that they were using an unsafe harness and did not have a professional flying company working the show. Odd...
Aerialist Dies From Fall in Christmas Show - PLSN
I'm somewhat surprised that an industry source such as PLSN is not approaching this from a similar angle as we all are. They don't even mention the fact that her harness was only for climbing, or that she was suspended over the audience. I would have expected that an industry source like PLSN would have been a little tougher on the church, noting that they were using an unsafe harness and did not have a professional flying company working the show. Odd...
Aerialist Dies From Fall in Christmas Show - PLSN
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There's a comment box on the e-mail from PLSN. Let them know how you feel. I did.
What Rigger?
I'm so fly....I Neverland.
Gaff- once I get a 2nd free minute this week, I'll be following your lead.
Also, don't everyone get too bent outta shape over flying over the audience. It's common, and when done right, very safe. But there's that ol' caveat again: when done right.
I've personally done 4 angels at once on automation at 90 feet in a mega-church with an all volunteer cast and crew. What problems we did have were more along the lines of being a nuisance to us, and all the angels were on backup devices as well. This was a 'traditional' vertical flight on wire rope, of course.
Also, don't everyone get too bent outta shape over flying over the audience. It's common, and when done right, very safe. But there's that ol' caveat again: when done right.
I've personally done 4 angels at once on automation at 90 feet in a mega-church with an all volunteer cast and crew. What problems we did have were more along the lines of being a nuisance to us, and all the angels were on backup devices as well. This was a 'traditional' vertical flight on wire rope, of course.
Rigger about how much did it cost to hire you (or the company you were working for) to do that flight effect? I'm going to guess $5,000-$10,000 based on quotes I've heard for doing a run of Peter Pan.
The church where this young woman died has 3,500 seats. It's been reported that there were about 2,500 in attendance the night of the tragedy. If we go with my guess on pricing for hiring a pro to do this safely, they could have covered the entire cost with a charge of only $2-$4 per person on opening night. According to the news articles, in 2007 over 20,000 attended this church's Christmas show and they were expecting more this year. That brings the cost of doing the stunt safely down to around $0.25-$0.50 per person, per performance.
What Rigger?
I'm so fly....I Neverland.
Well, I was never privy to how much it cost to hire the company I was then working for (a three lettered named company which shall remain nameless), but I know it was over 10 G's. But for that you got: me, my boss, and one or two other guys (depending on workload) to install the gear, fly the truss, and train the volunteers. We had an over 90% return rate on our crew and cast, year to year. AKA: most everyone had some familiarity with the rig already, and new people were never put into sensitive positions. But like the post from Derek of Uncle Bill's thoughts on stupid flying shows, in some places the going rate for human safety is far below $10,000. Insurance- aka Professional Riggers specializing in human flight- is CHEAP compared to lawsuits.
Once everything was up and running, I stayed for the entire 21 or so days for tech week and performances. We also had dedicated flying rehearsal time- an absolute MUST- with nobody else in the sanctuary. This meant no distractions, no lapses in concentration and everything we did had to pass through me for the final "Go/No go" call.
Every year we returned, there were always additional safety procedures implemented- this was a year round thing in our heads and we never stopped figuring out how to make it better looking, and safer. ALL gear was purpose built for it's intended use AND the design had been tested to destruction prior to being used. (God, I can't tell you how fun it is to pull-test Petzl gear, or wreck a truss on purpose!).
This particular gig played in a sanctuary that housed 10,000 seats. The show ran 6 nights a week for two weeks. No admission charge. The church has a congregation of over 20,000 and their fundraising annually is IMMENSE. I mean in the multi-millions of dollars. Paying for me was chump change. But the most important thing was that the church wanted it done right, and wanted everyone safe and DID THEIR RESEARCH. It's easy to hire guys like me. It's also just as easy, sadly, to not. Some people just don't realize how much they DON'T know. In hindsight, we've all been there.
Or as I always tell nervous parents when I show up to do Pan or Oz or whatever: "I don't care how good or how horrible you look in the air. It's not really my job to make you pretty, although I will help you with that. My real job is to send you home every night in the same condition you showed up in."
And for me, that has made all the difference.
PS: If this turned into yet another rant, somebody holla back at me.
Once everything was up and running, I stayed for the entire 21 or so days for tech week and performances. We also had dedicated flying rehearsal time- an absolute MUST- with nobody else in the sanctuary. This meant no distractions, no lapses in concentration and everything we did had to pass through me for the final "Go/No go" call.
Every year we returned, there were always additional safety procedures implemented- this was a year round thing in our heads and we never stopped figuring out how to make it better looking, and safer. ALL gear was purpose built for it's intended use AND the design had been tested to destruction prior to being used. (God, I can't tell you how fun it is to pull-test Petzl gear, or wreck a truss on purpose!).
This particular gig played in a sanctuary that housed 10,000 seats. The show ran 6 nights a week for two weeks. No admission charge. The church has a congregation of over 20,000 and their fundraising annually is IMMENSE. I mean in the multi-millions of dollars. Paying for me was chump change. But the most important thing was that the church wanted it done right, and wanted everyone safe and DID THEIR RESEARCH. It's easy to hire guys like me. It's also just as easy, sadly, to not. Some people just don't realize how much they DON'T know. In hindsight, we've all been there.
Or as I always tell nervous parents when I show up to do Pan or Oz or whatever: "I don't care how good or how horrible you look in the air. It's not really my job to make you pretty, although I will help you with that. My real job is to send you home every night in the same condition you showed up in."
And for me, that has made all the difference.
PS: If this turned into yet another rant, somebody holla back at me.
Or as I always tell nervous parents when I show up to do Pan or Oz or whatever: "I don't care how good or how horrible you look in the air. It's not really my job to make you pretty, although I will help you with that. My real job is to send you home every night in the same condition you showed up in."
PS: If this turned into yet another rant, somebody holla back at me.
If it was a rant... it was a great rant. That last paragraph is a great quote.
waynehoskins
Active Member
Les
Well-Known Member
A few years ago I did some work for a new high school with their lighting design for Wizard of Oz. Since they were a new school, they had a "greener" set of crew members, hence the need for outside help. Luckily they were smart enough to hire in 'said three letter named company'. On the beginning of tech week, the flying technician came in, did the rigging, and gave us a quick workshop as to how everything went together. I guess the school didn't have a huge budget, so they went with a more intermediate package - where they send out one tech, who sets things up (with students acting as assistants). Then the tech trains the operators and the fliers and stays 'till opening night then flies back to Vegas. When the show is over, the school takes down the system, packs it up and ships it in its roadcase back to the fly company.
Since I was over 18 (and the only one over 18 other than directors since this school did not yet have a senior class) I was to be one of the fly guys and was trained specifically to monitor all flying operations. I was put in to the position of the more sensitive aspect, which was the actual lifting. A student technician was allowed to control the horizontal movement.
The amount of instruction we received was great, and whatrigger? is right, we had several "dry techs" where we ran only the fly stunts with no one else on stage. All in all, the only thing that ever made us uncomfortable was possibly missing a cue, or in one night's case, being able to tell where to land the flying monkeys through the dense cloud of fog.
This was my second experience with this company, as the first was when I was in high school and we took on Peter Pan.
I find it interesting how eye opening tragedies can be. Don't get me wrong, I always cringed at the thought of someone being flown unprofessionally, but about three years ago a school in my area put on A Year With Frog And Toad (I designed lights), and in the opening scene they lowered the birds down to the stage on swings... (what they did was used 1/8" aircraft cables threaded and clamped through each end of a 2' 2x6. They then raised the birds about 10-15' in the air (behind the grand drape) and lowered them as the curtain opened. When I saw the show I didn't think much of it, but now I am more aware of how potentially dangerous this simple, 1 minute effect could have been.
How many times have you watched an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos and seen some poor kid swaying out of control on some cable/pulley system for some recital? I have seen it several times and it really makes me sick.
Since I was over 18 (and the only one over 18 other than directors since this school did not yet have a senior class) I was to be one of the fly guys and was trained specifically to monitor all flying operations. I was put in to the position of the more sensitive aspect, which was the actual lifting. A student technician was allowed to control the horizontal movement.
The amount of instruction we received was great, and whatrigger? is right, we had several "dry techs" where we ran only the fly stunts with no one else on stage. All in all, the only thing that ever made us uncomfortable was possibly missing a cue, or in one night's case, being able to tell where to land the flying monkeys through the dense cloud of fog.
This was my second experience with this company, as the first was when I was in high school and we took on Peter Pan.
I find it interesting how eye opening tragedies can be. Don't get me wrong, I always cringed at the thought of someone being flown unprofessionally, but about three years ago a school in my area put on A Year With Frog And Toad (I designed lights), and in the opening scene they lowered the birds down to the stage on swings... (what they did was used 1/8" aircraft cables threaded and clamped through each end of a 2' 2x6. They then raised the birds about 10-15' in the air (behind the grand drape) and lowered them as the curtain opened. When I saw the show I didn't think much of it, but now I am more aware of how potentially dangerous this simple, 1 minute effect could have been.
How many times have you watched an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos and seen some poor kid swaying out of control on some cable/pulley system for some recital? I have seen it several times and it really makes me sick.
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Well it sounds like people are asking the right questions at last. Check out this video.
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