Here's something interesting, on 6-22-07, a cable on a drop ride at a Six Flag's in Kentucky snapped and cut a 16 year old girl's legs below the knee clear off. Read the passage in the link below to find out more. There is no way the cables on this ride could have matched the strength of the cable supports on an aircraft carrier, and yet they severe a girl's feet clean. I think they need to revisit this myth, and my heart goes out to that girl.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/06/22/six.flags.accident/

I just signed up and came here after reading that very thing wondering that was a myth that was busted. I am still shuddering at that poor girls predicement.

MAN!!! I was just about to post about the same thing. Not saying that the guys are always wrong but this is a strike one for the the guys. I really think they should re-visit this one.

QUESTION: Have you ever busted a myth you desperately hoped would be plausible or confirmed?
— jasongary

Adam: Desperately hoped? Honestly, with the "Killer Cable Snap," I was so sure that it was true ... I wanted to see it happen. Halfway through the first day, it was apparent to me that it couldn't be true, and that ALL the evidence we had that supported it was anecdotal. That turned out to be the case. In reality, I'm completely fooled as to the outcome of a myth close to half the time.

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Hello, my name is Gaston, i'm from Argentina, my english is very poor and i write in spanish, sorry.
Para mi el error es que la piel del chancho es muy gruesa y por eso el cable no pudo cortarla. Prueben con una piel mas delgada.
(the skin of pig is fat. The cable can't cut this skin. Test with skin more small)

Gracias.Saludos.

Yes, a very real and confirmed case of cable amputation happening. needs a revisit

[quote]http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/06/22/six.flags.accident/[/quote]
Where did it say the cable cut off her legs? I DOESN'T.

theTroll

i just heard about this accident and it is deffinately very scary. You can find more about the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/22/six.flags.accident/index.html
; there is also a witness report video that helps to give a better description

No where in the story did it say the girls lets were cut off by the cable. A cable snapped and her legs were amputated. The cable didn't have to do it. Or the cable could have wrapped around her legs like they did to the pig in the end. You don't know what happened. Until the accident report is finished, just wait.

theTroll

yes in fact the cables what cut off her legs guys, if u really want to get into it then watch the story for ursef on the news. look up more on it for urself, and not just what it says on cnn

I hope she don't get Phantom limb pain. And don't get stuck with a big bill. Get well soon 13 year old girl.

This is slightly off topic but I have a friend who is a retired aircraft crash investigation who told me that in the 80's he worked on a couple of investigations in which the passengers where found with no feet/legs because the wires underneath the cabin snapped at impact. So I guess theres no question that this can happen, but wasn't the Myth which Adam and Jamie worked on about slicing someone in 2 with a single clean cut?

In this case it wasn't the cable snapping that severed the girls feet. It was the snaped cable wrapping around and then still being attached to the falling car through the pulley systemthat caused the amputaion. The cable snaping could cause some cuts, but it's mass would not have enough inertia to amputate a limb or cut someone in half.

I think people are confussing slaked caables and ropes that entagle bodies are limbs for suddlen tention related snaps causing the injuries. The #1 reson fo the confussion would most likely be that once a cable has snaped it becomes slack andcan wrap around things.

I am from louisville,ky, where the cable snapped on a ride at kentucky kingdom on the superman tower of power ride. I take my kids there all the time. I think that it is important to let the public know that a cable can cut thru flesh and bone, but out of respect for the little girl, i don't think that this should be revisted. It's been proven, in the worst way. my prayers go out for the girl and her family.

[quote]i don't think that this should be revisted. It's been proven, in the worst way. my prayers go out for the girl and her family.[/quote]
I beg to differ, as popular as the show is I think they should tribute a get well and show how dangerous cable, rope snaps are. Education is the best to guaranty that history don't repeat itself.

I think it doesn't need to be revisited too, mainly because how do we know it was the cable. I just hope she will be okay after that.

I agree with the previous postings about the cables. I had heartburn with the original episode in every aspect of the myth. Being active duty navy, I have seen videos in boot camp which talk about the dangers of nylon lines used at the time for mooring ships. These videos could have been easily gotten just by asking the public affairs officer at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, IL. Due to the number of injuries and deaths caused by these heavy mooring lines we switched to the more costly, but very safe kevlar mooring lines used today. The tests done with the cables and ropes were conducted with small diameter lines, not the heavy duty items used in the real world. Try using a 6 or 8 " mooring line, or look into using the cables used by the 150 ft open ocean tug boats. The mythbusters were too quick to jump the gun on this myth, and this is just another reason why!

They just had a close call at Drop Zone Stunt Tower in Carowinds

http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/story/170714.html

This myth is problematic because it is very difficult to find confirmed cases where it is definitive that a snapping or whipping action of the cable/line actually caused an amputation.

It HAS happened, but, often times the way in which the accident reports are written its hard to say what actually happened during the incident.

Also, you have the second issue that there are many many organizations around the world, in many different industries, that keep statistics on these things, but, you often have to be a member, and additionally, if that information is not available on line, then you aren't going to have access to that information - just because information isn't available through an exhaustive search on google, doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

I know of an incident that happened about a month and a half ago here in singapore involving a tow barge - a guy lost both of his legs when a tow line snapped - but, it didn't make CNN and the accident report is never going to be covered in any US affiliated safety organizations (OSHA etc.) because the worker was some malaysian guy working for an independant contractor on a tug boat.

I'm actually thinking about trying to revisit this myth myself. I have a few friends with lots of acreage and a D8 bulldozer along with access to things like load cells etc. I just have to work out the logistics of getting down to texas to actually do it.

There are cables and lines out there that certainly have the mass and energy to cut someone in half.

I live in Kentucky- when it happened everyone was shocked. I think that it may have been an off case though- it's hard to say whether other variables effected the cable snapping.

If you ask me the fact that Adam and Jamie used dead pigs as targets for the snaping cable is just not as accurate as something else would be because pigs have thick hide and not skin like humans do. . . not to mention that the hide of the pig whould have been dry due to the cells not geting water like it would if the pig was freasher. You see the more dry the hide of the pig is the tougher it would be and considering I figued this out at the age of 14 realy make me wonder about things I won't say about my hero's Adam and Jamie. That's all I have to say about that. One more thing though is that I will be a MythBuster when I grow up, even my science and math teachers think so.