[SML] Ringling Brothers Accident

[Keith Arsenault]

with Ringling  , , , it varies . . 

when Desi Espana fell to her death on the GOLD unit . .  it was I believe on Ringling supplied gear . . 

from what I recall it was an open faced block and the pin came out just after she was lifted to max height 

( the block was used to lift a number of different acts over the course of the show ,) 

if she had been on rigging supplier by her husband and her brother in law . . two of the best in the biz . . . she would be alive today . . 

googled like crazy to find a report on that accident . . and couldn’t find one . . only a quote from Ken Feld 


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L.G.: Did you ever, to your satisfaction, find out the cause of the accident that killed Dessi Espana?
 
K.F.: I believe it had something to do with a rigging situation.
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> On Jul 9, 2016, at 10:15 AM, Dale Farmer via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> 
> I don't know if this was the case with this act.  But traditionally the aerial artists in circuses did their own rigging and construct their own special devices.  I don't know who might have been involved in the design of the rigging and the apparatus, and what their level of education in the art of circus rigging and the engineering.