KC on A&E: Skywalk Disaster

[ComandanteCero]

flipping through channels, saw the familiar shape of the Hyatt in Crown Center.  Anywho, started watching, and quickly realized it was a documentary about the Skywalk disaster.  They had a bunch of nice shots of Crown Center and Downtown.  They made KC look nice, and even classy (i guess the skywalk disaster happened during some kind of swanky monthly event).  Lots of 80's footage of the Hyatt's main lobby area, before and right after the disaster.  Pretty cool all and all (well, except for the disaster part, that was pretty horrible).  Anyone else catch this?  (it is still running, as of 3:07 this afternoon).  I guess the show is called "Minute by Minute"

[LenexatoKCMO]

The event was a tea dance. 

There is another cable series (I can't remember which channel) on engineering disadters that has an episode they run from time to time with a long segment on the Hyatt. 

[KC0KEK]

I've seen a couple of those. Hopefully plaid leisure suits and mutton chops will never come back.

[dangerboy]

The Hyatt disaster and the Kemper Arena roof collapse are fairly famous in the engineering and architecture  worlds as examples of what not to do.

[scooterj]

It's in one of the "Engineering Disasters" episodes that gets run a lot as part of the the "Modern Marvels" series on... DISC?  HIST?  They all blend together for me.

[Tosspot]

I always heard that the Hyatt disaster was at the New Years Eve celebration one year in the late seventies.

[Highlander]

I always heard that the Hyatt disaster was at the New Years Eve celebration one year in the late seventies.

July 17, 1981.  It was, as stated, a Tea Dance.  People dancing to swing music like Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller.  It is believed that the motion of people swinging in unison to the music on the skywalks (and not just thier combined weight) contributed to the disaster.

[scooterj]

The Hyatt Disaster: 20 Years Later

One of many student reports available online

[Thrillcekr]

I always heard that the Hyatt disaster was at the New Years Eve celebration one year in the late seventies.

Nope.  I remember watching it as the news broke.  I was a kid and a die hard Royals fan trying to watch the game when the story broke.  It was all you saw no matter which channel you went to.  It was an absolute nightmare.  All of those people getting crushed was probably the single saddest day in the history of KC.

[BVC]

Highlander, that's partially true regarding the skywalks.  However, more specifically related to the actual collapse was an eventually catastrophic design change in midstream, if I remember corectly.  There was an additional skywalk added that changed the load factors on a member that was not designed to handle the additional weight.  Stupidity, that's what ultimately caused the collapse. 

I remember seeing this on TV as well and only being 6 at the time, my memory is somewhat watered down at this point but remember the news reports being pretty horrific.

[Nehmo]

if I remember corectly.  There was an additional skywalk added that changed the load factors on a member that was not designed to handle the additional weight.  Stupidity, that's what ultimately caused the collapse. 

It's structurally described here:
http://www.kcstar.com/projects/hyatt/Hyatt.pdf

[Long]

A skywalk wasn't "added"-- it looks like the steel fabricator proposed a design change to save some money, and the structural engineer signed off on it without reviewing the change.  And once you look at the design change, it doesn't take a structural engineer to figure out it would fail.  The "student report" several posts up describes it and has a very good analogy to help you understand.

Basically, there were two skywalks, one on the 4th floor directly over a matching skywalk at the 2nd floor.  The initial design called for both skywalks to be suspended from the ceiling by a single rod-- the rod and the ceiling beam were both capable of handling the load, and each skywalk only had to support its own weight.  It was changed so that the 4th floor walk was suspended from the ceiling, but then the 2nd floor walk was suspended from the 4th floor walk, and the 4th floor walk was not capable of supporting both itself AND the 2nd floor walk.  Shifting that connection of the 2nd floor walk from the ceiling to the 4th floor walk effectively doubled the load on the 4th floor walk.

[jerry12]

I vividly remember the sirens coming from everywhere.  I even saw an old cadillac ambulance from Harrisonville go by.  I turned on the TV and heard all the details.  At some point they mentioned that the blood banks would be short.  With a helpless feeling I went over to the blood bank on Main.  When I got there it seemed hundreds if not thousands were already there.  Obviously they didn't need that amount of blood but I have always been amazed at the number of people who showed up.

[tat2kc]

Its been noted before, but Kansas City folks really do step up in emergencies and disasters. We also, as a community, provide more dollars to charities per capita than many places. Something we should be proud of.