Had a controller board fry on a third-floor landing last Tuesday during rush hour

I was stuck in a 1980s Otis in a downtown office building when the main drive board started smoking, and I had to manually lower the cab using the brake release while two suits banged on the doors, has anyone else had to do an emergency manual descent with people inside?

3 comments

3 Comments

owens.laura1d ago

Gotta be honest, that sounds like a bit much for a simple board failure. Like, yeah, it's annoying and a little scary when stuff smokes, but most modern buildings have fire safety protocols and backup systems. If it was a 1980s Otis, there's probably stop switches and emergency phones right there. The suits banging on doors could have been handled by just hitting the alarm and waiting for building security to show up. Was the car actually dropping, or did you just panic and reach for the brake release?

jamesc791d ago

Nah, youd be surprised how fast those old Otis systems can fail, manual descent was the right call.

ivan46218h ago

jamesc79 you're right about those old Otis systems, they can be unpredictable. I've been in a few older buildings where the emergency phones didn't work and the alarms were just for show. If the car started smoking and the panel went, that's not a time to wait around for building security to show up in 10 minutes. You did what you had to do to get out safe, and that's all that matters in the end.