An earlier problem on an extreme pendulum ride that malfunctioned June 14 at Oaks Park has raised questions in a lawsuit about what happened the week before and if the ride was safe.

An Oaks Park spokesperson acknowledged to The Oregonian/OregonLive that the AtmosFEAR ride failed to make a full loop June 6, but she said that wasn’t a malfunction – unlike the ride’s stoppage eight days later that left more than two dozen people hanging upside down in the air for about 30 minutes.

A lawsuit now filed over the upside-down riders asks Oaks Park to provide more information about the first problem.

On June 6, children and at least one teacher from Scott Elementary School in Northeast Portland took their seats on the pendulum ride after waiting in line for 90 minutes. They were at the Southeast Portland amusement park to celebrate the end of Portland Public Schools’ year.

Fifth grade teacher Stephen Gunvalson, one of the riders, said it failed to make a 360-degree loop as intended and that the platform underneath their feet shifted back and forth when they returned to the AtmosFEAR’s unloading position but were still in their seats.

Gunvalson shared this account with The Oregonian/OregonLive after hearing about the June 14 malfunction.

In an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive on June 15, a spokesperson for the amusement park said the ride — which uses gravity and momentum to swing passengers upside down — failed to make the 360-degree loop because the weight of the riders needed to be redistributed.

“Occasionally the weight distribution of riders makes it so that the arm does not swing all the way over,” spokesperson Emily MacKay wrote in an email. “In that case, standard practice is for the ride to return to the rider station when the pendulum cycle is complete and rider placement is redistributed and the ride is run again.”

She added: “On June 6, we had one ride cycle where the weight had to be redistributed. Some riders opted to move on to other rides with new riders taking their place, and the ride made the loop on the next cycle.”

She said none of that constituted a flaw with the machinery. “Needing to redistribute the weight on a balance ride is not a malfunction,” she wrote in an email Thursday, and “the platform moving back and forth is part of the normal operation of the ride.”

On June 20, a family whose child was on the ride June 14 when it stalled upside down filed suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court against the association that operates the amusement park. The suit contends that their 14-year-old girl has suffered physical pain and discomfort, mental suffering, terror, fright, emotional distress and other difficulties due to having been stuck on the ride.

Representatives for Oaks Park insist that the ride — which has passed annual inspections performed by the ride’s insurance company including the most recent one in March — never malfunctioned before June 14.

“The AtmosFEAR has been in operation since 2021 and has operated without incident to this point,” MacKay wrote in a June 14 press release.

Nonetheless, the park took the ride out of commission for several days this month, reopening it Tuesday after its manufacturer, Zamperla, completed an inspection and said it found nothing wrong. The ride is operating without its 360-degree loop, however. Riders may instead choose a 180-degree or 260-degree option.

In a supplement to the family’s court filing, posted Sunday and first reported by Willamette Week, attorneys for the family ask representatives of Oaks Park to provide information about whether children were “temporarily trapped” on the AtmosFEAR ride June 6.

Gunvalson, the Scott teacher, didn’t stick around after his initial ride on the AtmosFEAR on June 6 failed to turn a full 360 degrees. He said he felt the ride wasn’t working. “It was trying to go over, and it wasn’t,” he said.

He said he felt the shoulder harness lose and regain pressure and watched as the platform shifted underneath his feet at the loading and unloading area.

He had a bus to catch back to school with his students. Pressed for time and not feeling sure about what was happening with the ride, he decided not to take the operators up on the offer of a second turn.

“It’s time to go,” the teacher said.

— Beth Slovic is a deputy editor on the public safety and breaking news team. Reach her at 503-221-8551 or bslovic@oregonian.com.

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