BUENA PARK – Knott’s Berry Farm’s newest ride was operating again at mid-day on Saturday, a day after a mechanical problem stranded several riders in the air for three hours.

Knott’s maintenance crews kept Windseeker closed earlier on Saturday while diagnosing what went wrong, but visitors were allowed to board again just after noon, park spokeswoman Jennifer Blazey said.

“They found out the problem and corrected it,” Blazey said.

The Windseeker registered an inaccurate read in an electrical safety switch, Blazey said, though there was no actual problem with the ride. It stopped all motion automatically as a safety measure.

There were 15 people on the ride, which stalled as they were on their way to the top of the 300-foot pillar around 7:20 p.m. Maintenance crews had to manually raise the ride the rest of the way to the top before they could lower it to the ground, Blazey said. The process took about three hours; no one was hurt.

The Windseeker has been operating for a year. The $5-million ride, constructed by Netherlands-based Mondial, takes up to 64 riders up about 300 feet in swing-like chairs, whirling them around at up to a 45-degree angle.

There are several other Windseekers across the United States and Canada owned by Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., Knott’s Berry Farm’s parent company.

In July, the Charlotte (S.C.) Observer reported that a mechanical malfunction similar stranded riders at Carowinds, a Cedar Fair park near Charlotte. The Observer reported other riders were stranded in June on the Windseeker at the Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky. It’s unclear whether those incidents were attributed to problems similar to what happened in Buena Park on Friday night.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3796 or mello@ocregister.com