b'V errckt was certified by the Guinness Book of World Re-The Fatal Flawcords as the tallest water slide on earth, at 168 feet 7 inches, in April 2014, even while its design team was in the throes of contending with the airborne rafts problem. Almost a year earlier, in June 2013, Henry & Sons decid-ed to install netting supported by hoops over the rides slide path as a safety measure to prevent rafts from fly-ing completely off Verrckts second hill, 50 feet above the ground. While the Kansas indictment proclaimed this solution, was obviously defective and ultimately lethal, Jeff Henrys preference was to install no netting at all. Schlitterbahn executive Rick Faber, who also lacked any engineering education or certification, fully endorsed the hoop-and-net fix, as evidenced by his email to project manager Kathrine Fontenot:What do you mean Jeff wants no nets at all, which negates the need for the hoops? I cannot wrap my mind around that decision. I am hoping that it is just a timing thingthat they would rather not have the nets up during the sand bag testing phase to minimize damage. Ops definitely has a problem with not having nets.Fabers troubling email confirms that Schlitterbahn, at the corporate level in New Braunfels, not only knew about the airborne rafts problem, but endorsed a safety measure that proved just as deadly as having no nets at allwhich was Jeff Henrys preference on-site. This was the blind leading the blind into an inevitable disaster that was ultimately caused by an incompetent design scheme from the start. There was no solution to the airborne rafts problem on Verrckt that was not going to be worked out by highly skilled, certified and educated professional engineersand the ones who were briefly involved in the project warned of the rides danger, but were dismissed and/or their warnings were intentionally defied in an effort to Awere StateKansas City. Among those visiting open Verrckt to an eagerly impatient publicand on July 10, 2014, it did.Please be advised that to follow is the graphic August 7, 2016 description of the tragic death of a child, and may not be suitable for all readers.beautiful Midwest summer Sunday was the setting for a special day to welcome elected officials and their fami-lies to Schlitterbahn the parkRepresentative Scott Schwab, his wife and their three sons, from Olathe, Kansas. Brothers Nate, age 12, and Caleb, age 10, climbed the 264 steps to the top of the 17-story Verrckt tower, hoping to ride down the worlds tallest and fastest water slide together. Due to the 400-pound minimum weight requirement for each three-person raft, the brothers were split up, Nate going down the ride first with two adult strangers. Caleb Schwab was positioned in the front seat of Raft B, with unrelated patrons, sisters Hannah Barnes, age 32, and Matraca Baetz, age 25all three riders were secured with two Velcro straps, one across the waste and one across one shoulder, like an auto seat belt, sans the locking buckle and tensioner.The initial drop happened without incident, but as Raft B reached the top of the second hill, propelled by water jets at an estimated 65-miles-per-hour, the raft went airborne and Caleb became unstrapped from his seat. The momentum launched Ca-leb into the netting and a metal hoop support that impacted the boy under his neck, decapitating him before his body dropped onto the slide, and 50-feet down, followed by a massive stream of blood. Calebs brother Nate witnessed his death from the bottom of the ride, and was heard screaming to a Schlitterbahn employee, I justUpper: Verrckts netting and metal hoop safety system, Mid-Left: Half-way down the first drop; watched my brother die because of one of your attractions. Mid-Right: The 2nd hill; Lower: Henry followed by Xtreme Waterparks film crew in Corpus Christi.38 THE COOASASTTAL BEND MA URED: The Stories that Mattered TheC talBend.comom84 THE C AL BEND MAGAGAZINEZINEFEAEarlTy Summer 2018 TheCooasastalBend.c'