Man on Power Tower

Does anyone remember the story that goes with the photo of the guy on top of Power Tower? A recent question reminded me of the photos of him on top of it, but I can't recall the details. Was he the designer from S&S?

Also, I think they used a helicopter, but how did he stay up there safely with the wind?

If I recall correctly, that man was Stan Checketts. himself. Founder and CEO of S&S Power. I believe it was on a one of those Discovery Channel specials. Rest assurred I am sure he was harnessed to the ride no differently then when maintenance climbs all over the rides at CP!

Actually it was Stan Checketts standing on top of Power Tower before it opened.

The story I have heard is that he always stands (or at least at that time always did stand) atop his rides like that.

I have also heard that OSHA levied a substantial fine against him for violating their fall protection regulations, and that he paid the fine saying that the experience of climbing up there was well worth the expense of paying the fine.

Note that this happened before the ride was turned over to Cedar Point, so Cedar Point would not have been a party in any way to any OSHA action. Cedar Point requires that its employees follow practices which meet or exceed OSHA guidelines. Particularly after they got nailed with some well-publicized OSHA violation notices a couple of years ago.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Call me crazy, but the way I remember that picture was Stan standing on top of the top piece of the tower while it was sitting on the ground.

Is this the photo?

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=ancufp&s=6

^No the particular picture is one when the ride is completely assembled.

^^That's the picture I was thinking of.

I seem to recall the news saying that he called his wife while standing atop the constructed tower. The "guess where I'm calling from" call.

Here is one. Took 2 seconds to find it on google. I'm sure someone can find the one of him at CP. I know it exists.

http://www.insideselfstorage.com/articles/i791a24.gif

RideMan said:
Actually it was Stan Checketts standing on top of Power Tower before it opened.

The story I have heard is that he always stands (or at least at that time always did stand) atop his rides like that.

I have also heard that OSHA levied a substantial fine against him for violating their fall protection regulations, and that he paid the fine saying that the experience of climbing up there was well worth the expense of paying the fine.

Haha that's awesome! I wish I had enough money lying around to just be like, ahhh it's worth the price to climb 300+ feet in the air unattached.

Wow, I didn't realize that a pic existed where the top piece was still on the ground. I can't remember where I first saw the photo on the completed tower. It was like 10 years ago.

I wonder what a 1998 OSHA fine runs you? $10K?

S&S used to have the pic of him on top of Power Tower on their site. Give archive.org a shot.Stan is an interesting guy.. I'll say that..

There was an article about Stan in Rolling Stone magazine a number of years ago that included the picture in question. It was a pretty interesting article from what I remember.

Edit: Thanks to Rob's suggestion, I found a small version of the pic on an old S&S website about 3/4 of the way down the page. http://web.archive.org/web/20010419110016/http://www.s-spower.com/

There is video of him standing on top of Power Tower while a helicopter flies around him on one of the older "Extreme Rides" videos from Discovery Channel... I have it on VHS around here somewhere. I believe it is on Extreme Rides 2000, while they are talking about the "Thrust Air 2000" prototype of Hypersonic at the Utah plant.

^^ I cant find it. You say scroll down but I don't even have the option to scroll down.

Very small but he's there..

http://web.archive.org/web/20010905111643/s-spower.com/company/face...ncedar.jpg

Here is one that is a bit larger.

Yeah, he must have been harnessed by the legs or something once he was on top. It must have been what? March? April? I hope he picked a warm day. I wonder what CP management thought of him doing that. Obviously he did it at more than one of their parks.

My link went to their main page instead of the "company" page. My bad. Rob fixed it for me.

No, he wasn't tied off. That's why he was fined.

CP management should have had nothing to say about it; it wasn't their ride yet, and he is not employed by their company.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.