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OTD 40 Years Ago: July 17, 1981 - 114 Killed When Skywalk Collapses at KCMO Hyatt Regency
Posted on 7/17/21 at 10:27 am
Posted on 7/17/21 at 10:27 am
Having been open barely a year, the lobby of the 40-story Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Mo. was packed with people on the evening of Friday, July 17, 1981 for the popular "Tea Dance" - basically just a time for people to dance and socialize with a live band playing.
Naturally, looky-loos gathered above on the 3 skywalks that overlooked the lobby from the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th stories to watch the events going on down below. What the people on the 4th floor skywalk, and thus the 2nd story skywalk directly below it, didn't know was a small change during the hotel's construction put them in danger.
Suddenly... a pop was heard during the middle of the event... and the 4th story skywalk crashed down on the 2nd story skywalk directly below it... and in turn both went crashing down to the lobby floor onto the partygoers below. By the time clean-up was finished... 114 were dead
YouTube - NBC41 Kansas City report from 2011 on the 30 year remembrance of the disaster
Kansas City Star
Onlookers watch the 1st tea dance from the 2nd story skywalk 2 months prior to the disaster
Burst pipes flood the lobby in the moments following the collapse... almost drowning some who were trapped in the rubble
Overlooking the lobby hours after the collapse as firefighters start to look for survivors
Wikipedia
Photo of the entrances to where the skywalks were
The design that led to the collapse
Picture of the failed 4th floor skywalk beam... which shows the rod supporting the 2nd floor skywalk in place but the location where the support for the 4th floor skywalk busted through
Naturally, looky-loos gathered above on the 3 skywalks that overlooked the lobby from the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th stories to watch the events going on down below. What the people on the 4th floor skywalk, and thus the 2nd story skywalk directly below it, didn't know was a small change during the hotel's construction put them in danger.
Suddenly... a pop was heard during the middle of the event... and the 4th story skywalk crashed down on the 2nd story skywalk directly below it... and in turn both went crashing down to the lobby floor onto the partygoers below. By the time clean-up was finished... 114 were dead
YouTube - NBC41 Kansas City report from 2011 on the 30 year remembrance of the disaster
Kansas City Star
Onlookers watch the 1st tea dance from the 2nd story skywalk 2 months prior to the disaster
Burst pipes flood the lobby in the moments following the collapse... almost drowning some who were trapped in the rubble
Overlooking the lobby hours after the collapse as firefighters start to look for survivors
Wikipedia
Photo of the entrances to where the skywalks were
The design that led to the collapse
Picture of the failed 4th floor skywalk beam... which shows the rod supporting the 2nd floor skywalk in place but the location where the support for the 4th floor skywalk busted through
12
Posted on 7/17/21 at 10:32 am to rt3
Coincidentally, this was the same day Journey released the album Escape
This post was edited on 7/17/21 at 10:32 am
Posted on 7/17/21 at 10:41 am to rt3
The KC Hyatt Regency Skywalk collapse held the title of deadliest engineering disaster in American history for 20 years... until a certain September day in 2001
And by the time the recovery process is finished in Surfside, Fla... the death toll at the condo collapse site will be comparable to this event.
And by the time the recovery process is finished in Surfside, Fla... the death toll at the condo collapse site will be comparable to this event.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:09 am to rt3
So what exactly was the engineering failure? I see the original design only had one bolt but they ended up putting two?
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:12 am to jlovel7
quote:
So what exactly was the engineering failure? I see the original design only had one bolt but they ended up putting two?
Original design was one rod through everything. The follow-up design was two rods. The force from that decision double the load for the nut. It is basic physics, really simple math and it killed people because an engineer signed off without thinking it through.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:15 am to jlovel7
quote:
So what exactly was the engineering failure? I see the original design only had one bolt but they ended up putting two?
Original design had the nut only supporting one platform. Redesign had the same nut supporting both platforms.
Can see it pulled through due to excess weight.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:20 am to rt3
quote:
deadliest engineering disaster in American history for 20 years... until a certain September day in 2001
Wut
I dont think planes flying into buildings counts as an engineering disaster
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:21 am to jlovel7
quote:
So what exactly was the engineering failure? I see the original design only had one bolt but they ended up putting two?
The bolts in the original design would’ve allowed each floor to hold their weight, but the new design added weight from the second floor walkway onto the fourth floor walkway’s beams. Those beams were only designed to hold 30% of the load that was placed on them.
Add to that a higher number of people being on them due to an event being held in the lobby. It was a recipe for disaster that was overlooked by the engineers.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:21 am to jlovel7
quote:
So what exactly was the engineering failure? I see the original design only had one bolt but they ended up putting two?
yes... instead of using 1 rod to support both skywalks... they used 2 separate rods that supported 1 skywalk each... and that was the fatal design change
from the Wiki article... this segment of which is cited
quote:
This design change would be fatal. In the original design, the beams of the fourth-floor walkway had to support only the weight of the fourth-floor walkway, with the weight of the second-floor walkway supported completely by the rods. In the revised design, however, the fourth-floor beams supported both the fourth and second-floor walkways, but were only strong enough for 30% of that load
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:25 am to rt3
That lobby picture with the busted pipes doesn’t look like an event that killed 114. Damn.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:25 am to Cosmo
quote:
Wut
I dont think planes flying into buildings counts as an engineering disaster
whether deliberate or not... it's still considered a structural collapse and engineers have now learned and take that into account when building similar buildings
the KC Hyatt Regency is the deadliest non-deliberate collapse in American history (pending final tally from Surfside)
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:26 am to rt3
quote:Wow
Skywalk Collapses at KCMO Hyatt Regency
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:34 am to rt3
I’m assuming that’s blood from the people caught under the collapse in that photo?
Posted on 7/17/21 at 11:53 am to rt3
That’s a lot of blood in that color picture in the bottom right corner.
And is that cop smiling?
And is that cop smiling?
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:10 pm to Wolfhound45
I stayed at a nearby hotel in 1982 on a business trip and this thing was on my mind. Didn't go visit the site.
This post was edited on 7/17/21 at 12:11 pm
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:36 pm to rt3
I thought about this right when I first learned of Florida Surfside condo collapse. Wondered if eventually when they determine why that building collapsed, if every senior concrete design course has a little blurb on that like every senior design course goes over this kc collapse.
This was the perfect example of how things get lost down the line and can be fatal if you don't do your job as a structural engineer. Every civil engineer knows the story. " sure why not, 2 rods instead of 1. It's hard to get a rod at those specs, that length? No problem....oh wait the bolt at the top now has 2 floors of weight instead of 1...too late"
I think the steel company ended up fricking up in the end, because the engineering firm signed off on them changing the rod design because it wasn't a good feasible design, but the steel company was supposed to put extra reinforcement where the anchors are in this case....and they didnt, and it collapsed. But ultimately the engineer is responsible.
This was the perfect example of how things get lost down the line and can be fatal if you don't do your job as a structural engineer. Every civil engineer knows the story. " sure why not, 2 rods instead of 1. It's hard to get a rod at those specs, that length? No problem....oh wait the bolt at the top now has 2 floors of weight instead of 1...too late"
I think the steel company ended up fricking up in the end, because the engineering firm signed off on them changing the rod design because it wasn't a good feasible design, but the steel company was supposed to put extra reinforcement where the anchors are in this case....and they didnt, and it collapsed. But ultimately the engineer is responsible.
This post was edited on 7/17/21 at 12:42 pm
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:41 pm to Pendulum
quote:
I thought about this right when I first learned of Florida Surfside condo collapse. Wondered if eventually when they determine why that building collapsed, if every senior concrete design course has a little blurb on that like every senior design course goes over this kc collapse.
This was the perfect example of how things get lost down the line and can be fatal if you don't do your job as a structural engineer. Every civil engineer knows the story.
the biggest thing I see that came of this was the main designer of the building really took the collapse to heart
he took full responsibility and then would go to engineering classes and said "learn from my mistake... don't do what I did and cause people to die"
hopefully someone from the Surfside collapse takes the blame similarly and helps others understand that hundreds of thousands of people are trusting you with their lives when they go in your building
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:42 pm to rt3
quote:
whether deliberate or not... it's still considered a structural collapse and engineers have now learned and take that into account when building similar buildings
This is untrue.
They don't design buildings to have jets full of fuel flown into them, not even today.
There was nothing wrong with WTC 1 or 2 from a design standpoint.
Posted on 7/17/21 at 12:47 pm to Mid Iowa Tiger
quote:
Original design was one rod through everything. The follow-up design was two rods. The force from that decision double the load for the nut. It is basic physics, really simple math and it killed people because an engineer signed off without thinking it through.
I see. So each level would be supported by one set of nuts on the respective levels. But the change shifted everything beneath it to the nut all the way at the top.
Damn.
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