Sanford immediately realized the fear she nervously joked about hours prior was beginning to unfold in real time. On its way up to the second hill of VerrГјckt, Raft B went airborne, colliding with a metal pole and netting meant to prevent riders from being thrown from the ride. She turned around to see what was happening. Sanford was eating a funnel cake with her back to the slide when she heard a noise, almost as if a ride had derailed. When the raft pushed off, the seventy-three-pound Schwab was in the front seat. Tyler Miles, the operations manager of the park, had received seventeen separate staff reports during the 20 summer seasons about how Raft B required maintenance, including five from that week alone. The ten-year-old was obeying all of the rider instructions given to him, but the raft that was carrying Schwab, Baetz, and Barnes allegedly had вЂњa propensity for going abnormally fast and going airborne more frequently than other rafts,вЂќ according to an indictment that would be filed later. Caleb was in Raft B, joined by sisters Matraca Baetz and Hannah Barnes in the seats behind him. Not too far away, Nathan Schwab was waiting at the bottom of the slide for his brother, Caleb, to come down VerrГјckt. Later that afternoon, Sanford and Gocke were hanging out at one of the picnic tables at Boogie Bay, the final area of Schlitterbahn Kansas CityвЂ™s extensive lazy-river setup with a view of VerrГјckt.

вЂњBefore they took off, I said, вЂBrothers stick together,вЂ™вЂќ Schwab r ecalled to ABC News.

When it was time to check out VerrГјckt, Schwab offered a reminder to his boys-specifically to ten-year-old Caleb, the second oldest of his children who loved playing outside. A Republican state representative for nearby Olathe, Schwab and his family had come to Schlitterbahn as part of Elected Official Day, a promotion in which state legislators were invited in for free. The slide won Best New Ride (WaterPark) in 2014 and was voted the fifth best water-park ride in the world in its first two years by Amusement Today.ДЄ couple of hours later on August 7, 2016, Scott Schwab brought his wife and four sons to the park. Challenging the laws of physics, the slide presents a drop from seventeen stories high, hitting up to sixty-five miles per hour and often leaving people soaking wet, shaking with a mixture of raw excitement and genuine fear. When she said no, I said, вЂThereвЂ™s a first for everything.вЂ™вЂќДЇor the amusement-ride thrill seeker, VerrГјckt was a bucket-list experience without rival. вЂњI feel really bad about this now,вЂќ the nineteen-year-old told Esquire about that day, вЂњbut I was joking with the lifeguard, asking her if anyone had ever died on this thing. In times of fear, Sanford says she resorts to humor, which is exactly what she did with the twenty-something lifeguard who helped strap her into the raft at the top of VerrГјckt around noon that summer Sunday. She wondered to herself if the Velcro straps that held riders in place were safe enough on a waterslide deemed by the Guinness Book of World Records two years earlier to be the tallest in existence. And after waiting about thirty minutes and walking 264 steps with Gocke and GockeвЂ™s little sister, it was SanfordвЂ™s turn to go down the slide named вЂњinsaneвЂќ in German. The only thing Sanford, a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, did know on this summer road trip was that Schlitterbahn Kansas City had an attraction no other water park could claim: the VerrГјckt, the tallest waterslide in the world. The park, which had been open since 2009, was the first effort outside of Texas for Schlitterbahn, the family-run water-park dynasty thatвЂ™s become the worldвЂ™s preeminent aquatic amusement giant, with its original park winning вЂњBest Waterpark in the WorldвЂќ by Amusement Today for two consecutive decades. On vacation from Lincoln, Nebraska, with her friend Melanie Gocke and her friendвЂ™s family in August 2016, Sanford, then a rising high school junior, didnвЂ™t know anything about Schlitterbahn Kansas City. Standing on a platform more than 168 feet high and overlooking the flat entirety of the Kansas plains, Jess Sanford was scared.

Train simulator 2017 pioneers edition