News Rider Dead After Being Thrown from Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia

[Nitro230]

PR reasons. Probably a decent percentage of the population doesn't know that they are different style coasters SF doesn't beed a ton of social media post circulating showing the coaster running an saying that they are not taking the accident seriously. It sucks but it's the right PR call.

That just feels like its drawing attention to the accident though, that can't be the reason. With the predictably high number of stupid comments I've seen in social media circles because Nitro is closed as a result, you would think they would try not to draw attention toward a coaster that is fundamentally different. People are just fear mongering rn and its just a void of stupidity convincing people these rides are dangerous.

This is just what I’ve heard.

But, allegedly this guy was filming with his phone (which is obviously a big no no), dropped it, tried to lunge for it, and that I guess released the restraint cause he was kind of a big guy….

This is all still allegedly however.

I don't know if I buy the whole phone thing, and that still shouldn't cause the restraint to pop open. I do definitely think there's a possibility he was too big and the restraint didn't lock fully. If that is the case it raises two questions: why didn't the train recognize that the restraint wasn't locked properly? and why did the park employees send the train?

 

[HW2025]

Agreed. It's one thing to consider yourself inconvenienced by a closure but minimizing this horrible incident and/or blaming the victim (who boarded the ride under the OBVIOUS pretense of it being safe for him to do so unless told otherwise) is speculative, gross, and will not get the rest of the B&M hypers open any faster

You can argue that this incident shouldn't affect other rides/parks. The safety studies are out there. There hasn't been a single incident before this of a mechanical failure. Im not saying it wasnt mechanical, and honestly im leaning to it was a mechanical failure of some sort. So based on the design and track record, all other B&M clamshells should be operating. It's the same if there is an incident involving an aircraft incident. Just because a plane crashed at JFK doesn't mean LAX should shut down even though the same type of aircraft are being utilized. Unless it's a glaringly obvious flaw in design thats apparent immediately then logic says proceed normally. If a mechanical failure is found then issue a stop them. And my guess is the ones involved in the investigation already have a strong idea of what actually happened. Im sure stateside B&M engineers were on the move to Atlanta immediately as well as European B&M techs/engineers. Government officials im sure were onsite preserving everything within the hour. So it's understandable why people aren't happy coasters at other parts are closed. Logic/statistics say they should be up and running.

 

[zdesigns]

That just feels like its drawing attention to the accident though, that can't be the reason. With the predictably high number of stupid comments I've seen in social media circles because Nitro is closed as a result, you would think they would try not to draw attention toward a coaster that is fundamentally different. People are just fear mongering rn and its just a void of stupidity convincing people these rides are dangerous.

I don't know if I buy the whole phone thing, and that still shouldn't cause the restraint to pop open. I do definitely think there's a possibility he was too big and the restraint didn't lock fully. If that is the case it raises two questions: why didn't the train recognize that the restraint wasn't locked properly? and why did the park employees send the train?

The phone thing, if real could go either way in my opinion as both the rider and the operator's fault as he was breaking rules on a ride which can lead to death, and could have. But on the other side why didn't the operator send him off if he was to big or didn't notice it was unlocked. Either way none of this would have happened if it weren't for the park, I think the rider has something to do with it but the park is more at fault. Still waiting to see what happens with the investigation, but it's more than likely that sfog and Goliath are staying. Goliath will have a major redo of it goes back open and we haven't seen much people destroy a massive steel roller coaster over a death. Anyway no hyper or gigia B&M coaster will be the same

 

[horsesboy]

Latest info including what is known about the victim

Man who fell to his death while riding Six Flags roller coaster identified

Police have identified the man who died on a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia Monday afternoon.

www.fox8live.com

 

[snail_]

You can argue that this incident shouldn't affect other rides/parks. The safety studies are out there. There hasn't been a single incident before this of a mechanical failure. Im not saying it wasnt mechanical, and honestly im leaning to it was a mechanical failure of some sort. So based on the design and track record, all other B&M clamshells should be operating. It's the same if there is an incident involving an aircraft incident. Just because a plane crashed at JFK doesn't mean LAX should shut down even though the same type of aircraft are being utilized. Unless it's a glaringly obvious flaw in design thats apparent immediately then logic says proceed normally. If a mechanical failure is found then issue a stop them. And my guess is the ones involved in the investigation already have a strong idea of what actually happened. Im sure stateside B&M engineers were on the move to Atlanta immediately as well as European B&M techs/engineers. Government officials im sure were onsite preserving everything within the hour. So it's understandable why people aren't happy coasters at other parts are closed. Logic/statistics say they should be up and running.

The abundance of caution is what keeps these rides, and airplanes so safe. They're doing the correct thing regardless of whether it is convenient to do it.

 

[Nitro230]

Latest info including what is known about the victim

Man who fell to his death while riding Six Flags roller coaster identified

Police have identified the man who died on a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia Monday afternoon.

www.fox8live.com

This article is fairly objective but I don't love that they decided to single out the lap bar restraint when we don't yet know what the cause of the incident is. They also falsely claimed that the other rides closed "only use a lap bar" which is just not correct, a bunch of the closed rides also feature a seatbelt. It might seem like a minor detail, but if you don't know any better and read this, I can see how people immediately think the fact that the ride only has a lap bar is the reason this happened and that lap bars as a whole are unsafe.

 

[Zachary]

So based on the design and track record, all other B&M clamshells should be operating.

I super disagree with this. Closing a coaster for a few days out of an abundance of caution is not a significant inconvenience and, depending on what occured, could prevent a repeat occurrence.

I cannot say much, but I know of another physical restraint failure on a coaster that has never been widely reported. In that case, similar coasters were shutdown, an investigation occurred into the initial incident, the cause was found, and then the other, similar coasters were inspected for the same issue. Multiple other cases were found where failure would have likely, eventually resulted due to the same previously-unknown fatigue-style issue. They were ticking time bombs.

Maybe B&M knows more about what occured here than their current statement to the press says, but unless B&M knows what happened here already, it seems obvious to me that a stop order for all coasters running these restraint components should be issued worldwide.

 

[warfelg]

I super disagree with this. Closing a coaster for a few days out of an abundance of caution is not a significant inconvenience and, depending on what occured, could prevent a repeat occurrence.

I cannot say much, but I know of another physical restraint failure on a coaster that has never been widely reported. In that case, similar coasters were shutdown, an investigation occurred into the initial incident, the cause was found, and then the other, similar coasters were inspected for the same issue. Multiple other cases were found where failure would have likely, eventually resulted due to the same previously-unknown fatigue-style issue. They were ticking time bombs.

Maybe B&M knows more about what occured here than their current statement to the press says, but unless B&M knows what happened here already, it seems obvious to me that a stop order for all coasters running these restraint components should be issued worldwide.

100% agreed.

Makes me think of when there’s an incident of a certain kind of aircraft that’s significant and theirs a ground order on them. Is it likely all of them have the issue? No. Is it worth is if even 1-2% do? Absolutely.

 

[XDime]

I know from visiting SFOG like many of you have probably taken note as well, operations are incredibly spotty which is always something I notice as someone who works in the industry. I also know clamshells particularly can be weird if you try to force someone into it. Also I think a secondary restraint such as a seatbelt would have changed the outcome entirely because of where it happened in the layout. I always make jokes about coasters that have a seatbelt as a secondary but with these rides always getting bigger faster and more intense ot should almost be a given to have it.

 

[snail_]

On seatbelts: I have always felt that the belt should attach to the primary restraint somewhere (on models like B&M invert it does.) People feel they are pointless because the primary restraint is doing all the work. I don't mind a minor slowdown in ops if it is for a higher degree of safety. But I'm not an engineer, I don't know anything.

 

[TPoseOnTantrum]

Latest info including what is known about the victim

Man who fell to his death while riding Six Flags roller coaster identified

Police have identified the man who died on a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia Monday afternoon.

www.fox8live.com

He was one of us

 

[DE_Creative]

I have to say some of the comments I am seeing in the wider coaster community right now are just freaking stomach turning and sicking.

This community is (especially outside of more sophisticated forums like this one) a bunch of uneducated (or willfully ignorant) children/adult children who know precisely nothing about how this industry actually works. Disappointed but not surprised for a second

 

[Python_Survivor]

Maybe B&M knows more about what occured here than their current statement to the press says, but unless B&M knows what happened here already, it seems obvious to me that a stop order for all coasters running these restraint components should be issued worldwide.

I'm just a bit baffled that the international ones are still open to be quite honest...

 

[Mattatee]

It's the same if there is an incident involving an aircraft incident. Just because a plane crashed at JFK doesn't mean LAX should shut down even though the same type of aircraft are being utilized.

This is apples to orange. No one is saying to shut down the parks. this is about the same coaster restraint models. If a certain model of plane crashed in your scenario, it would cause a grounding of all other aircraft of that model. Which is what is going on right now with clamshell restraints.

 

[horsesboy]

Feel kinda ghoulish posting this but I feel like given somebof the things said in the wider coaster community that people need to understand the impact on the family. So hrre is the first stuff released by family members.

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[Jonesta6]

On seatbelts: I have always felt that the belt should attach to the primary restraint somewhere (on models like B&M invert it does.) People feel they are pointless because the primary restraint is doing all the work. I don't mind a minor slowdown in ops if it is for a higher degree of safety. But I'm not an engineer, I don't know anything.

Two things that I'd like to know more about: what would have to be done for a seatbelt to be considered the redundant backup that could have kept a restraint closed in this incident in such a way as to eliminate a gap a rider could fall out of? Is there a potential change needed to the definitions within the ATSM restraint classifications regarding the use of seatbelts?

For the first, it beats me how this would be possible given that even if some kind of tensioning lock system was in place, if the main restraint was already loose on the rider the seatbelt shouldn't automatically clamp it down further. If that's necessary, it would go from a class 4 to a class 5 restraint (based on my uneducated reading of the standards) which likely has a whole host of downstream impacts. If this ride had such a system, it would have only saved this victim if it can be assumed that the main and redundant locking mechanisms within the clamshell both broke and there wasn't already a gap based on the way he was sitting in the station.

If the standards need to be updated, I'm guessing there'd be a lot of rides going under retrofit quickly since I'm guessing insurance carriers would require it pretty much immediately to continue operations.

 

[northdetective]

via CoasterGallery.com

 

[snail_]

Honestly I don't know what position the belt on an invert holds the OTSR when it springs open; if that is minimum verify or more open but not fully open (so potentially still unsafe.) I assume the belt is a form of verify like the red stripe on the clamshell restraint post. If you can't buckle it then the restraint is not closed enough. So it stands to reason that if the OTSR springs open and the belt catches it then the restraint is in a safe position? I don't know though.

 

[Tacky3663]

This is what I feel is going to happen in the wake of this incident



-All B&M hyper models without seatbelts will have them installed.
-No more room between your legs and the restraint. Most likely everyone will nearly be stapled.
-Rules for who cannot ride will be more strict, like no more 2 or 3 workers trying to push down as hard as they can on a restraint just to make someone fit

 

[Tacky3663]

Feel kinda ghoulish posting this but I feel like given somebof the things said in the wider coaster community that people need to understand the impact on the family. So hrre is the first stuff released by family members.

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My heart absolutely breaks for that poor woman….