After the incident the it was reported that the castle was not tied down. This was not strictly true as the castle was tied to a down to a dodgem track and a game on the other side. The problem was that the castle was on a large black asphalt area that created thermal updrafts and secondly as we all know anything other than pegging down is a second best option. The outcome was that the force actually ripped the anchor points out of pearl oyster the body of the castle, hence flying castle.
Up to this point apart from the publicity this is not a particularly notable incident in world wide terms as there have been quite a few similar incidents. What is really more interesting for us is the insurers reaction. Funnily enough they didn't want to pay.in fact, Australia's biggest insurance company at the time absolutely refused to support their client. Now here is a family who had paid there insurance premiums for over 30 years to the same insurer and never before made a claim. Now whatever the rights or wrongs of the case, the family was under the misconception that because they had paid their premiums and had a good record the insurance company would come to their aid in their time of need. Well nothing could be further from the truth .In fact they had to stump up the money for a lawyer to fight off the claim while that same lawyer sued the insurance company. In the pearl jewelry end the insurance company was forced to pay out on the claim but only after the fought it all the way through the courts. So I guess the moral of the story might b something like. Get your insurance so you can work but don't think this is necessarily going to protect you completely if you have an accident. Remember, insurance companies aren't charities. Their object is to collects the biggest amount of premiums and pay out the least amount of claims.
You probably remember about 10 years ago the famous flying castle at the Dandenong showgrounds in Victoria. There is the brave supervisor hanging off the side with a castle full of kids floating through the air like Alladin's magic carpet. I know at least one coin pearl necklace company that keeps the front page picture from the Sun newspaper on their wall as a reminder to all employees of the consequences of such an incident.
The reason the incident received so much media coverage is that the whole incident was shot on home video and finished up on the evening news. The chances of an incident being recorded are higher again now that mobile phones can take photos and the next step will be videos.
The fallout of the incident was that for about 12 months afterwards some customers would not hire an inflatable, and for the operator a legal tussle with his insurance company.
