High Anxiety in Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Strip requires a steady flow of electricity to keep its signature, over-the-top neon marquees glowing. Similarly, the Stratosphere Tower needs an uninterrupted supply of electricity to keep its wacky, over-the-edge thrill rides operating. According to the Las Vegas Sun, a short-circuit caused a power outage to the X-Scream ride this past Tuesday evening that left six tourists from Japan literally hanging 27 feet over the edge of the tower's 866-foot-tall observation deck. The devilish attraction resembles a seesaw that sends riders racing headlong towards the Strip from its impossibly high perch. Investigators are trying to determine why X-Scream's operators didn't use a manual override to bring the riders back to the loading platform. The tourists were stranded in the precarious position for about 90 minutes. The mishap follows an incident last April (see Late-Night Insanity in Las Vegas) when strong winds triggered an automatic pause on another Stratosphere Tower ride, Insanity, that left a young woman and her 11-year-old cousin dangling for about 90 minutes. It would seem that the attractions should have auxiliary generators or manual overrides in the event of power failures.
Stratosphere Tower Thrill Rides Overview
Insanity- The Ride at the Stratosphere Video