Anyone know anyone who died in an elevator fall?
- Thread starter Tenacious E
- Start date
I’m curious to the details here. The front desk said they were “working” on the elevator. Was the service provider actually onsite at the time?
This is actually something I know a ton about
It happend to me once in my NYC apartment building. I stepped into the elevator on the lobby level and the thing started accelerating as we went up. We sailed by my floor, and it quickly braked and stopped at the penthouse, but the door did not open. After a few seconds we were in a free-fall for a total of 34 floors, where it bounced at the basement level, and went up 4-5 floors, paused and again crashed to the basement. It then bounced about ten feet or so and stopped between the basement and the lobby level. The doorman sent a handyman who pried the door open, and I crawled out onto the lobby floor.
It was never a total freefall, but we were frigging flying, and accelerating the entire way down. Some kind of braking system kicked in, but the stop was still quite sudden. It hit some sort of bottom and bounced. I was getting ready for another round trip when it came to a stop.
The doorman, who seemed to have seen this happen before thought the whole thing was funny as hell and was delighted that I was treating it like an adventure. I think he was mostly happy that it was me and not one of the many LOL's (Little old ladies) who resided in the building.
What a frigging ride!!
Except that they quickly closed both elevators and I had to then walk up 32 flights of steps ... and back down again in the morning.
.............
Edit: This would have been in 2005, 2006, or 2007.
It was never a total freefall, but we were frigging flying, and accelerating the entire way down. Some kind of braking system kicked in, but the stop was still quite sudden. It hit some sort of bottom and bounced. I was getting ready for another round trip when it came to a stop.
The doorman, who seemed to have seen this happen before thought the whole thing was funny as hell and was delighted that I was treating it like an adventure. I think he was mostly happy that it was me and not one of the many LOL's (Little old ladies) who resided in the building.
What a frigging ride!!
Except that they quickly closed both elevators and I had to then walk up 32 flights of steps ... and back down again in the morning.
.............
Edit: This would have been in 2005, 2006, or 2007.
Last edited:
Very odd. Usually when we are working on an elevator we will remove it from service so that people cannot access the elevator for this reason.
- Sep 13, 2002
- 93,923
- 189,832
- 113
Did you/do you work at Kone (formerly Montgomery). You probably know my buddy.
Related: why are all elevator guys right wingers? Ya'll listened to too much Limbaugh! (RIH)
- Sep 13, 2002
- 93,923
- 189,832
- 113
And he wasn't as big of a crybaby about it as you either!
Sure do. Who was it?
I’m in South Florida so the union guys might be a little different than the Quad guys. A lot of the 55+ guys are democrats. Joe Manchin type guys. There is a good portion that aren’t political at all unless you count Salt Life as a political organization. Then you have some hard core MAGA.
I would have like to have seen his HORT posts right after it happened.
- Sep 13, 2002
- 93,923
- 189,832
- 113
My friend I jokingly called the "elevator whisperer" as they sent him out from Moline whenever the local guys couldn't figure out what was wrong. Initials are G.S. Funny dude, smart, super nice, unfortunate politics
- Sep 13, 2002
- 93,923
- 189,832
- 113
Elevators in general are very safe and have multiple safety features with redundancies. With tractions, if there is a free fall due to a brake and motor failure, the governor will grip the safeties and the cab will lock down onto the rails.
If you have a brake and motor failure and you are the only one in the cab, you are going to shoot up into the overhead. Elevators prior to 2008 weren’t required to have a secondary brake that would prevent the “upfall”.
Most of the time if you feel that you are falling is when you are traveling and the clutch or the sill clip the interlock and momentarily brakes the safety chain which causes the elevator to stop.
If you have a brake and motor failure and you are the only one in the cab, you are going to shoot up into the overhead. Elevators prior to 2008 weren’t required to have a secondary brake that would prevent the “upfall”.
Most of the time if you feel that you are falling is when you are traveling and the clutch or the sill clip the interlock and momentarily brakes the safety chain which causes the elevator to stop.
Oh I would for sure know him. What is his first nameMy friend I jokingly called the "elevator whisperer" as they sent him out from Moline whenever the local guys couldn't figure out what was wrong. Initials are G.S. Funny dude, smart, super nice, unfortunate politics
- Sep 13, 2002
- 93,923
- 189,832
- 113
I thought I remembered that you were in elevator sales or something like that. I was just going to search for that before I read your post.
- Sep 13, 2002
- 93,923
- 189,832
- 113
That seems like enough coincidences to make you a Person of Interest.
Did they all happen to owe you any money?
Im surprised at how little people actually get in the lawsuits. The worst one I’ve seen was $1 million and she was pretty messed up after the accident.
Yeah, its tough. Plus P.I. attorneys only get paid if they win. If they do, it is a chop of 33% plus expert witness costs
Rochester, MN. It happened long before I worked there, but I would get the creeps whenever I took the elevator.
The hospital in Keokuk had an elevator that didn’t line up on the ground floor. There was an an inch and a half lip between the floor and the elevator floor. Someone was pushing a wheelchair, it caught in the lip and face planted the wheelchair occupant onto the floor breaking their face. It was quietly settled.
I just read your post and I'm so sorry to hear about your terrifying experience! That must have been incredibly scary for you. It's amazing that you were able to think on your feet and take action to ensure the safety of others. I think your message about not taking anything for granted is incredibly important. We never know what life will throw at us, and it's crucial that we take precautions to protect ourselves and those around us. Speaking of precautions, have you considered getting lift maintenance for your office building? It sounds like the elevator you were in was in serious need of repair, and regular maintenance can help prevent accidents like the one you experienced. I've personally used the services at https://hinchong.com/ for my own building, and I've been very satisfied with their work.
Last edited:
I think I'd walk the rest of the way down. I hate when an elevator stops at a floor and takes forever to balance and the door to open.
closest I've come to an elevator death was ironically in the Kinnick Press Box.
about 50 people jammed into the elevator up to the the outdoor suite level and after about 5 feet up we heard a loud BOOM and stopped. Luckily it only took about 5 minutes to get the doors opened and we were able to climb off and take the stairs. Still pretty freaky.
about 50 people jammed into the elevator up to the the outdoor suite level and after about 5 feet up we heard a loud BOOM and stopped. Luckily it only took about 5 minutes to get the doors opened and we were able to climb off and take the stairs. Still pretty freaky.
