re: Elevator Malfunctions, Shoots Man 31 Floors Up at High Speed

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My phobia was always the elevator brakes failing and dropping like a rock at 50 mph.


Same here. They have shocks or springs in the pit to reduce some of the impact but still, screw that.

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I must say that the OT is hilarious (the reason I finally joined) but filled with heaps of misconceptions and half arse knowledge by its 'experts.' I'm not here to make waves, so at the risk of outing myself to many, or all, of you, I'm helping the OT out.

Its obvious this is a WAY scary situation. With the doors opening up, its clear that the hoist way and car safety circuit is jumped out in the controller but as for the brake releasing and the car taking off, it could be one of many things. Brake coil jumped out could be most likely but it'll be investigated.

As to calm everyone's fears of the elevator car plummeting down, if its a traction (cabled), thats all movie magic. As this video shows, elevators 'fall' up, not down. The counterweights weigh as much as the car plus 40% of capacity. Also, most traction cars have 5+ cables holding them and each rope is rated to hold the weight of the car and load capacity. If the car were to ever fall down, the safeties would engage at 115% of rated speed and the car would stop. But it would/could fall down if EVERY cable AND the governor cable were cut a la 9/11 WTC elevator shafts.

Fun fact: the world's population rides elevators every 3 to 5 days. Statistically, its a safer mode of transportation than flying.