Woman falls to her death from giant roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas: wasn't properly secure

Did several searches and didn't see this, but please remove if there is already a thread.

This incident took place at Six Flags in Texas.
According to witnesses, the latch was not properly latched and the woman fell out after the bar opened.
They watched in horror as a woman fell from her seat on the Texas Giant roller coaster Friday night at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Investigators will try to determine if a woman who died while riding a roller coaster at a Six Flags amusement park in North Texas fell from the ride after some witnesses said she wasn't properly secured.

www.nydailynews.com...

The Texas Giant is 14 stories high, and has a drop of 79 degrees and a bank of 95 degrees. It can carry up to 24 riders. It first opened in 1990 as an all-wooden coaster but underwent a $10 million renovation to install steel-hybrid rails and reopened in 2011.

When the car that the woman had been riding in returned to the loading zone, two people got out and were visibly upset, Rockwell resident John Putman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"They were screaming, 'My mom! My mom! Let us out, we need to go get her!" Putman told the newspaper.

Nadine Kelley, who had been waiting in line for the ride, told NBC 5 of Dallas that riders who were sitting behind the woman said that "right when they came down off the first bump and hit that first turn, she flew out." The woman was accompanied by two children, who were "hysterical," Kelley said.

"They were saying that their mother flew out of the car."

OMG...... What trauma the son will have. According to the video, he's in his 30's possibly, a grown man.
But the image that will be with him forever is devastating.


My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
As well as the people on the ride that were aware of what took place.


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ETA: According to this source she was accompanied by 2 children.

reply to post by snarky412


My heart and prayers go out to the son, family and friends.

I see perhaps a very good (lawsuit) in the works; perhaps they will settle out of court.

Video on the news out of Chicago said she jumped

I'm only in the area camping so I don't really know.

Daaaaayum. Fell off the TG

wonder how that happened.

Originally posted by caladonea
reply to post by snarky412

 

My heart and prayers go out to the son, family and friends.

I see perhaps a very good (lawsuit) in the works; perhaps they will settle out of court.

I can't even begin to imagine what they felt.
What they saw and heard.

God that gives me goose bumps.
A tragic way to die.

How upsetting to see your beloved mother die like this.

Poor, poor guy. That woman must of had her life flash before hey eyes .

[color= blue]**R.I.P.**
Rosy Esparza



www.nbcdfw.com...

That's just horrible! Unbelievable.

Originally posted by mikell
Video on the news out of Chicago said she jumped

I'm only in the area camping so I don't really know.

So far, that's not the story down here.
Sounds like a malfunction with the latch.
She had her 2 grown kids with her too.

Nadine Kelley, who had been waiting in line for the ride, told NBC 5 of Dallas that riders who were sitting behind the woman said that "right when they came down off the first bump and hit that first turn, she flew out."

The woman was accompanied by two children, who were "hysterical," Kelley said. "They were saying that their mother flew out of the car."

I never go on them for fear of this happening
My thoughts go out to her family and I hope the ride is closed down.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
I never go on them for fear of this happening

Pretty much this.
Its not the ride I'm scared of.
Its the unknown lack of maintenance.

Yeesh...what a nightmare for that family.

RIP

I once was on a ride at one of the big parks that had a very high, spinning, upside down thrill ride that was sorta like a ferris wheel that the whole thing raised up high in the sky. the primary latch failed during the first set of really crazy motions and if not for the seat belt secondary restraint, there would have been no way for me to hang on during some of the movements. I know it was just my seat as I checked my sons next to me for his safety during the tamer parts of the ride. I'm a coaster freak and I KNOW that lock mechanism failed. I was hanging on to the seat grips rather than the over the shoulder restraint that had failed. When I got down, I mentioned it to on of the operators of the machine and they just shrugged and kept the seat filled for the next ride. Like I said, I'm a thrill ride junkie, but I will NEVER go on that ride again.

It's sounds like it was a mechanical failure that was turned deadly by human failure by the people who check each rider.

THIS is why i am terrified of roller coasters!!!!

The latest:

Texas roller coaster can't reopen until it's reinspected

AUSTIN -- The Texas Giant roller coaster can't re-open until it gets a new safety inspection report following the death Friday evening of a woman riding the tallest steel-hybrid coaster in the world at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, said a spokesman for the state agency that regulates amusement rides.

So far, no explanation has been given as to the cause of the harness failing.

I have riden this ride many times prior to the steel modifications. With that being said, they did not modify much of the physics of the ride when they upgraded it. I hate to be the one to state the facts, which will soon be out, but it is near impossible to "fall" out of this ride. My personal opinion which is based on the back story of this lady, is that she tried to "get off of" the ride at one of the slowest and highest point of the ride. Now this is based on the fact that she was an older lady who had never been to a theam park. As for the restraint malfunction which allowed her unexpected leave of the ride, she was a heavier lady, which would hinder the restraints operation. So now we have an interesting situation which is sure to get some people heated, should overweight people not be allowed to ride?

Originally posted by LeaderOfProgress
I have riden this ride many times prior to the steel modifications. With that being said, they did not modify much of the physics of the ride when they upgraded it. I hate to be the one to state the facts, which will soon be out, but it is near impossible to "fall" out of this ride. My personal opinion which is based on the back story of this lady, is that she tried to "get off of" the ride at one of the slowest and highest point of the ride. Now this is based on the fact that she was an older lady who had never been to a theam park. As for the restraint malfunction which allowed her unexpected leave of the ride, she was a heavier lady, which would hinder the restraints operation. So now we have an interesting situation which is sure to get some people heated, should overweight people not be allowed to ride?

I have never been on a roller coaster and am curious as to what the heck happened.
So being as I haven't a clue about the ride, thanks for your input.
But if she fell due to being heavy set, the harness not latching properly, the fault would still lie with the park, would it not? Or the ride manufacturer.
If you are correct about the cause of the harness failure, I suppose there will be changes in the policy about weight or install better harnesses.

I do know that it was a shock to those on the ride near her.
Malfunction or what......
I bet it will be a while before some of those people get on a coaster again.

Holy crap
I'm a huge coaster fan, but this is always a fear of mine every time I've ridden one. I've always checked & rechecked the restraints before the car moved, and checked and rechecked up the first climb, and white-knuckled it the entire ride because "What if it fails??" is always screaming through my head. Granted, I haven't been to an amusement park in years, and would still ride a coaster if given the chance, I'd still be paranoid. When the SheiKra opened at Busch Gardens TB, I was eager as hell to use my annual pass to get that first ride of the day (and did) When it hung before the dive, and we were all face-down over the ground, all I could think was "It these restraints fail, we're all dead..."

The woman was extremely obese and I suspect the latch couldn't close properly. I have no clue how she even fit. I would think that she would be familiar with such problems. And I would also imagine that staff were taught to be aware of such problems. I think both were at fault. This was a very unfortunate tragedy, but considering her obesity, extra care should have been made to ascertain that her seat belt was fastened properly and that she didn't surpass the maximum ride weight

I once nearly died on a ride called the zipper. I was a small scrawny child and the restraint did not fit properly. I even mentioned it to the operator that it was not fitting snug enough. He waved his hand at me like whatever and walked away and started the ride as I pleaded for him not to. During the ride, I fell out of it, and had to hold on for dear life. My entire body was flopping around inside the "caged cabin" that had an opening that I could fit through in the front. I was screaming bloody murder and the ride operator was laughing. At one point about 1/2 of my body was outside the caged cabin and my grip and feet hooking onto a bar were the only things that saved me.

reply to post by Nyiah


I had the same feeling hanging over the front of the first drop on the Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Hanging 205 feet above ground will definitely make you wonder about the safety features in play. Hell of a ride though! BG Williamsburg is still top of my list of favorite get always.