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Woman Falls From The Texas Giant To Her Death

*jerk post*

I wonder if the other RMC rides will go down because of this. I *should* be riding Outlaw Run in a little over a week.

While I realize its not running G-Trains nor at a SF park (I'd assumed Rattler is down for now as well) when you've only made three rides and the only one you've built without a loop, has now killed someone... do you take down the other two?

annddd FWIW, I've been at a park when someone has fallen to their death from a coaster during my visit... So yeah, I know, it sucks. And it'll mess up a whole lot of peoples lives.
 
It's a shame, my thoughts and prayers are with the victim's family. Absolutely hectic day in the industry.

I posted this on SFGAmWorld already, but I'm not sure which aspect is at fault here. Is it Gerstlauer, who designed the trains, or RMC, who designed the train's operating system?
 
CanobieFan said:
*jerk post*

I wonder if the other RMC rides will go down because of this. I *should* be riding Outlaw Run in a little over a week.

While I realize its not running G-Trains nor at a SF park (I'd assumed Rattler is down for now as well) when you've only made three rides and the only one you've built without a loop, has now killed someone... do you take down the other two?

annddd FWIW, I've been at a park when someone has fallen to their death from a coaster during my visit... So yeah, I know, it sucks. And it'll mess up a whole lot of peoples lives.
Click to expand...


I would think so tbh. Every single ride share the same restraint system.. of course.. not the same ride operation/maintenance staff.

Heart goes out though.
 
Ya know what weirds me out...

"The woman, said Brown, “basically tumbled over and you just see her son [go], ‘Ahhh.’ They didn’t secure her right. One of the employes from the park — one of the ladies — she asked her to click her more than once, and they were like, ‘As long you heard it click, You’re OK.’ Everybody else is like, ‘Click, click, click.’ Hers only clicked once. Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn’t feel safe, but they let her still get on the ride. …"

IS IT JUST ME... Or does it always seems to be Six Flags who encounter this issues of large folk falling out of their rides?

From what I gather, most coasters have a warning light that CAN be overridden. WHY are staff overriding it?
 
Um, the only ride I operated with lights for seat sensors could NOT be dispatched until all the restraints were down far enough, and there sure as heck wasn't an 'override' button.

Now, maybe a train could be dispatched in Maintenance Mode with an open restraint, but I think even that is unlikely, or at least would vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Even an old-as$ arrow loopscrew like Wild Thing (relocated in 1997, built in 1984), while it could be dispatched with an open / unlocked restraint, would trip a sensor and automatically stop the lift about 1/3 of the way up. This would even stop a train in Maintenance Mode, so I really, really doubt that any more modern coaster with onboard restraint sensors has an override button of any sort.
 
BBH said:
It's a shame, my thoughts and prayers are with the victim's family. Absolutely hectic day in the industry.

I posted this on SFGAmWorld already, but I'm not sure which aspect is at fault here. Is it Gerstlauer, who designed the trains, or RMC, who designed the train's operating system?
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that a passenger ejection has nothing to do with the actual ride and everything to do with maintenance and the restrain system. The two parties here that will be held under the most scrutiny are SF and Gerst. RMC only built the track and gave Gerst the specs to build the trains to (track gauge, rolling resistance, min. and max force requirements) and Gerst built a chassis for that and the body and restraints to SF's requests. There are 2 real scenarios: 1. The hydraulic locking mechanism on the restraint failed and the woman was ejected or 2. The woman was improperly restrained, either the restraint was too far from her lap or she was too large for the restraint to lock properly The first case would be the fault of either Gerst or SFOTs maintenance staff while the second would be the ride ops'.
 
Does Outlaw Run have Guerstlauer trains or are they RMC trains?

Joey, I absolutely agree. All of Six Flag's accidents seem like operator error.
 
Antinos said:
Does Outlaw Run have Guerstlauer trains or are they RMC trains?

Joey, I absolutely agree. All of Six Flag's accidents seem like operator error.
Click to expand...

? I'll grant you that some are related to operator error, but definitely not all. I think I'd almost prefer that to manufacturer error or maintenance errors, to be quite honest. I expect the front line operators to not be the smartest link in the chain: Manufacturers / designers are certified mechanical engineers and maintenance guys should be mechanically inclined, well trained and government or at least organizationally certified to perform proper maintenance. (Budget cutting bean counters who won't get the proper tools and materials or allow adequate hours for maintenance to be performed, on the other hand... Grrr...)

Ride ops pretty typically are high school kids or college students on Summer break.

Any ways.

The restraints are "supposed" to stay locked even if only one click is reached, but most, if not all manufacturers set the requirement that more (seems to be 3 more often than not) clicks is what is required for safety considerations in the event that a tooth breaks. (Of course, if the pawl breaks, no amount of clicks is going to save you.)

If the attendants are trained that one click is enough on RMC rides, that's not a ride op problem but rather a problem with the manual / requirements.

If they were told three clicks (or however many) and there's no sensor to verify that, it's still not the ride ops fault. It's virtually impossible to verify click counts on a noisy, busy station platform for every seat on every train without some sort of electrical/mechanical system doing the verification. If the train doesn't have that, it's right back to the manufacturer expecting the attendant to do the safety check instead of idiot-proofing the safety system like they ought to.

Can you tell I've spent way too much time checking coaster restraints? lol
 
Well, looks like I'm not riding it tomorrow. :(

Edit: Puh, I won the lottery. I'll just book flights to Dallas when it reopens! As well as going to San Antonio if Iron Rattler closes.
 
Should also be worth noting that NTG, as with almost every G-Train.... Lacks a seatbelt (And I believe RMC's Outlaw train lacks them too). Now as far as CLICKING goes, do these bars even click? Intamins bars in a similar style, do not.
 
^Outlaw Run does lack seatbelt and so do Iron Horses. Outlaw Run trains don't click, but I do not know about Iron Horses. They are probably the same anyway.
 
Outlaw uses hydraulic lapbars sans clicking, as long as they're past a certain point the OS will give the green light.

I haven't ridden an Iron Horse and cannot tell you about Gerstlauer's restraint system, but it seems to be a mix of hydraulic and ratcheting (if they click).
 
rollermonkey said:
Um, the only ride I operated with lights for seat sensors could NOT be dispatched until all the restraints were down far enough, and there sure as heck wasn't an 'override' button.

Now, maybe a train could be dispatched in Maintenance Mode with an open restraint, but I think even that is unlikely, or at least would vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Even an old-as$ arrow loopscrew like Wild Thing (relocated in 1997, built in 1984), while it could be dispatched with an open / unlocked restraint, would trip a sensor and automatically stop the lift about 1/3 of the way up. This would even stop a train in Maintenance Mode, so I really, really doubt that any more modern coaster with onboard restraint sensors has an override button of any sort.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I don't honestly know because I'm just parroting stuff I read/hear, but I think what I'm referring to is...

If they were told three clicks (or however many) and there's no sensor to verify that, it's still not the ride ops fault.
Click to expand...
...A sensor to verify a "minimum" click? I dunno. I think I read it from ScreamingCoasters.

I agree though - if there is no rule in place, not their fault. But, I find it hard to believe there was no rule.
 
I can confirm that the Rattler is closed. I was at Fiesta Texas today, rode it twice this morning and went back at 8ish and it was closed. The employee didn't know why. I can't image what happened on the Giant. Over Texas is my home park, I'm from Fort Worth, and I know that the do visual scans and check the restraints very well. I was actually disappointed in the checking system at Fiesta Texas...
 
^^Yup. The sensors on Raging Bull detect if the lap bar is down far enough that three teeth should have passed the pawl. The physical check the ride op does essentially confirms that the teeth are there and have engaged the pawl. Every single day maintenance visually inspected every single restraint to ensure there were no missing teeth at the start of the operating day.

For an old ride like Wild Thing, the sensor on the lift verified that the stomp pedal that locks each car was up. It was actually a simple toggle switch, and if the pedal was down, it would knock over the switch, killing the lift hill motor. You could send a train if the restraints were OPEN and it would clear the lift hill, but not if a pedals was down (unlocked). The visual / physical checking the train would confirm the engagement of the latching device and that the harnesses were down.


I'm a huge believer that all new coasters and major thrill rides should be idiot proof and prevent dispatch of any train or ride that has an open or unlocked restraint. I also believe that any company that fails to engineer that into the safety system is just an eventual accident waiting to happen, and I keep getting proven correct every time an Intamin or any other coaster or ride kills someone. (Flipping log flumes boats being an obvious exception.) The fun of amusement parks should be the ILLUSION of danger, not the actual potential for death and serious bodily harm.
 
It shocked me to find this out and with me going to Cedar Point this week, I'll have to see if Mean Streak is affected by this at all. If I'm correct they had similar layouts when NTG was wooden and it might be seen as unsafe too. I am aware that this is probably Gerstlauer's fault, not PTC's or Dinn's. This is one ride related to TG that I don't think needs shut down, but you never know.

Back on topic, I want to see exactly how it happened, and it was very irresponsible of RMC/Gerst to have designed this ride to be able to dispatch with an unlocked restraint, as well as the ride ops if they dispatched the train without the bar all the way down.

Just a stream of thought from me on this.
 
This death is just, truly heartbreaking for me, I cant stand to hear the story, and my thoughts go out to everyone involved in this horrible tragedy.
 
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