What Really Happened on New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas July 19th 2013?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Around 6:40pm on Friday, July 19, 2013, New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas, was operating normally. As the ride proceeded into its first hill a female rider became loose from the restraint. She would end up falling nearly 75 feet, landing on the ride's 2nd tunnel where she was killed. The investigation would lead to a mess of lawsuits with the true story of what really happened that day still being covered up.
Sources:
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Videos used:
• New Texas Giant - POV ...
• Deadly Accident on Six...
• Texas Giant POV - Six ...
• Twisted Colossus
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Music used under license from Epidemic Sound, songs listed in order:
Night Shuttle - Max Anson
Cold War Games - Gabriel Lewis
Rise of the Velcro - Gabriel Lewis
Peacewalker - ELFL
Call Waiting - Future Joust
One would think that a third-party independent reviewer would be allowed to investigate something like this. Without it, it would appear to be the fox guarding the hen house.
It’s Texas. Enough said.
Texas protects companies, not the people. -From a Texan
Foxes guard every henhouse in Texas, particularly in the state government.
Texas hates it's citizens.
That’s Texas for ya.
This state has always been pro-profit, and minimum accountability.
Six Flags: "Definitely no seat belts! Don't even think about it!"
Rider:
Six Flags: "Why didn't you put seat belts on, Gerstlauer??? This is all your fault!"
I don’t think this a situation to be making jokes about
@@sipsteaanditsunsweet5618 I didn’t really take this as a joke because that’s literally what Six Flags did
Yeah, I understand six flags trying to cover their ass, but Gerstlauer built to their specifications, gave in to their request for less safety failsafes. Six flags were on maintenance, and operation. I don’t like the idea of someone checking my restraint by a light on a screen, yank on it, make sure it can’t move.
@@ItsaB3ARthey did do the push on pull. The sensor is to make sure it was low enough for the ride mechanism
@@ItsaB3AR Didn't they say the restraint hadn't moved throughout the ride? They might've done that check but it made no difference
Amazed that a full investigative report was never released. Even if state law doesn't require it, it's in the industry's best interests to fully lay out and examine the circumstances of the accident, the probable causes, and recommendations to prevent something similar from happening in the future. Liability is small peanuts compared to the learning that such a report could give.
she was too big and her fat compressed and it made her skinnier than her seat lock position the operators were trained not to let fat people bigger than a certain size on and yet did so
Six Flags is a garbage company and Texas is more interested in protecting businesses than people
Huh I'll pll
Independent investigations WERE conducted by both the train company, AND six flags.
This has got to be the most detailed video on this accident. I'm honestly happy that this has seatbelts. Not because I'm scared, (i've ridden NTG close to 200 times) but because they are needed to make sure that something like this *never* happens again.
And people unlatch the seatbelt as the train goes up the lift because the buckle is pressed between their body and the lap bar and digs into them with every movement of the train....kinda defeats the purpose.
@@BackSeatJunkie but it does help verify that the main restraints will fit, so not completely defeated
@@BackSeatJunkie The belt can be loosened, so there's no need to unlatch it.
What's needed is for ride workers to recognize, and prohibit from riding, any rider whose torso is above the lap bar & not restrained, as was Rosas case.
@@crooked-halo Has there ever been pictures released which confirms this was the case?
That poor woman, my heart goes out to her. She only wanted to have a nice day at a local theme park and it's completely heartbreaking that she lost her life over that.
I live in Arlington only about 20 minutes away from Six Flags and I remember when this happened. It was wall to wall coverage on the local news... so sad for the family. 😕
Edited to add I don't go to Six Flags anymore (I'm not a thrill ride person and have back issues that wouldn't let me safely ride anyway) so I'm surprised to hear there were no Spanish instructions.
A lot of signage in stores around here will often have Spanish in smaller print underneath the English because it IS common for both languages to be spoken here in North Central Texas and only more and more common the further south toward the border you get. It's just part of the culture here.
I'm in Northern NY several hours from either the city or the Canadian border and all our safety signs are in English, French, and Spanish. Sometimes other languages are thrown in for good measure.
I used to live about 15min away, and we’d go to SFOT all the time. Even the original Texas Giant had instructions announced in both English and Spanish. I was working at Six Flags when the new Texas Giant opened and they let us ride before the general public, which was interesting because everyone and they mama worked there anyway. 😂
I went to Six Flags Over Texas yesterday , after I went on the Texas Giant , I look on my yt fyp and I see this video. I was 6 when this happened and I find this crazy how I went on a ride that killed someone.
@@nonna_sof5889 that's how you know Texas refusing to label anything in Spanish is us being intentionally unhelpful
We have English and Spanish on most signs in Virginia.
This was far more disturbing than I could’ve expected. May she rest in peace.
in pieces*
@@benwarped7272no
@@benwarped7272 I don't think they were in pieces.
@@benwarped7272 i laughed help
@@Snow-xd4rv you don't think SHE was in pieces.
Can you imagine having to finish the ride after having just watched someone get thrown from it? Awful.
I've heard this story covered before, but your version goes into much greater detail and focuses on the wrong doing of the coaster and parks, rather than just the victim. Thank you for this. There was so much done wrong here. Her death was preventable.
Glad you enjoyed, that's something I always try to do with my videos. Most accident videos focus so much on the victim/injuries that you don't get any understanding of what happened.
You know it’s a good day when a new What Really Happened video comes out
The poor ride operator who has to witness this by being the one to go and look.
I would feel soo guilty. But its not their fault if they are trained to just trust the sensor light.
@@em84c As someone who works in an industry where sensors show if certain connections are made to start washes/sterilizations on vessels, I can't reconcile noticing an issue with the restraint, that's to KEEP PEOPLE ALIVE, then looking at a light on a screen to being like "Welp I'm wrong." I've seen the sensors themselves go out, showing no connection when there is, which isn't a big deal... it's when the cable that provides power/communication messes up that sometimes we have it showing there's a connection when there isn't... and it's VERY common. As an attendant I wouldn't have even trusted the light, if I felt iffy about it before looking. The supervisor runs the ride, if you have even a little doubt, run it up the chain...
I have 3 children that worked at this park, including the Giant. We were also there the day it happened and had gotten off the ride just before. The staff should’ve never let that rider on due to her weight which is now strictly enforced and yes, a seatbelt would’ve possibly prevented her from falling.
I 100% agree. Larger people should not be allowed on rides like this. For their own safety!
@@jayz4dayz763no. The censors need to be relevant, AND accurate.
I work at six flags and before ppl get on the ride they have cautions for ppl that are plus size. Yes a seatbelt would’ve prevented this tragedy but at the same time they should’ve never let her ride the coaster if there was a problem with her restraint.
Let’s be honest here. The presence of a seatbelt would not have stopped this accident from happening. If the seat sensor failed, and it showed that the restraint was locked, the ride operators shouldn’t be held at fault, either. The blame falls on either Gerstlauer’s train design (assuming it was a design flaw) or bad maintenance by Six Flags.
My thoughts exactly
The seatbelt would have kept the rider from flying out
@@xxbreebee97xx86 Debatable.
@@triple7marc alright then, let's debate it...
YOU are the one making the claim that seatbelts would have failed as well...
explain your position for us, please
@@triple7marccrickets…..
As horrific as this accident was, I appreciate you taking the time and explaining the details of the accident as I learned quite a bit from watching this. The day the accident happened, I was working and got a call from ABC News and Diane Swayer's producers who asked if they could use my footage of NTG for a breaking news story involving an accident. I asked what had happened as this was the first time I had heard the news. I told them I would call them back as I had to look up the news myself. I couldn't find much but I did agree to let them use the footage. They never returned my call back. Perhaps it was for the better. There was another accident (non-fatal) that took place that very same day at another park, yet the news of it wasn't as noticed as the NTG accident, probably covering up a lot of bad press for the park.
the photographer himself🎉
Honestly wild that there weren't any Spanish warnings in Texas of all places
That's how you know we're intentionally refusing to help Spanish speakers. Texas GOP official stance on bilingual education is "we encourage all students to learn English"
Spanish is not the official language. Learn English or leave
@@nathanmullenix3460 Speak English or get out of the amusement park? This isn't a citizenship test you clown. Its the morally correct thing to warn a large subset of your guests of any potential hazards in a language they can understand.
@@nathanmullenix3460 then disneyland paris should ban english
@@nathanmullenix3460 Actually Texas doesn’t have an official language at all, so just shut up I guess?
To this day, NTG ride operators have a wooden block with a handle that they physically attempt to insert between the lap bar, and the seat to make sure that the restraints are at the minimum locking requirement. Just like the more recent drop tower in Orlando, it might be hard to make the “Walkashame “off of a ride when you’re too fat, but that still beats being bludgeoned to death by gravity.
I would rather take that walk of shame than be dead. And I've had to do that twice. Once in Orlando and once at my local theme park in Iowa. It sucks but that's what happens when you're a bigger person. I try my best to show the attendants that I'm not offended and it's not their fault. They always seem genuinely apologetic about it.
I agree. It's unfortunate, but "fluffy" people have to realize restraints do not work properly to safely secure them in high gravity situations
@@Og-Judy And from experience of seeing larger people removed from Iron Gwazi, an RMC coverted coaster, i don't really think any RMC coaster is going to be fluffy friendly just by their very nature. I'm average sized and those seats are very tight and it appears that almost all of RMC's trains are nearly identical.
@@casuallystallednot steel vengeance. It's pretty generous.
Although. .
I kinda wish that wooden stick thing was also used. Because I've rigged my position to ride it a few times. I just thought the censor had to go green. I'm not doing that no more.
Yeah I remember I had to make a walk of shame 😂
This seems similar to the Icon Park drop tower accident in some ways: seems to me the thing that killed the victim in both cases was that the restraint sensors showed green and allowed the ride to dispatch, when the restraint was in a position that could not protect the rider. Yes, the operator could have decided not to believe the indicator and refused to dispatch, but the situation was a death trap to begin with. The difference with Icon Park was that the restraint had been intentionally modified, which seems not to have happened here. But I suppose we don't know if it was fundamentally a design flaw or a maintenance problem.
It's remarkable to me that this accident on RMC's very first coaster did not kill RMC's coaster business in the cradle, but the fact that Gerstlauer and not RMC made the trains probably helped with that. (It didn't destroy Gerstlauer's business either, but Six Flags never worked with them after that.)
On the drop tower the operator moved the sensor on the seat to accommodate larger riders going against manufacturers recommendations.
The NTG sensor showed as good because the lap bar was down enough, but was resting on this poor woman's belly instead of her legs like it should have been.
It also would have passed the pull test the operators use since again it was down enough to lock. Only a thorough visual look could have prevented this at the time
Another not so well known similarity, ICon park owner requested no seat belts against the manufacturers recommend redundancy for restraints. The owner wanted it to feel more dangerous.
And something else to mention. This ride was fixed and still in operation. They didn't take it down .
@@noneyabisness414sadly that is exactly what happens. The restraint was locked but it was ineffective because it was not locked in her lap like it should be. The is exactly what happens decades ago with Colossus first opened in 1978. The woman was overweight but carried most of her weigh in her middle. The lap bar was resting on her stomach and she was ejected going down that first drop. This was not Twisted Colossus, this was classic Colossus. Her story was wall to wall media covered just like this lady’s case.
I would hate to be the attendant that had a bad gut feeling, but trusted the systems anyway. I would feel so guilty.
EDIT: I actually had an experience sorta like this. I was a much larger person when I was younger, and the attendant, thank fuck, had a bad feeling and kicked me off superman in six flags buffalo. I was offended. I was upset. But I can't help but think now that maybe they saved my life.
ETA: Fat shaming is bad and people who do it should feel bad. But this is a safety issue with a massive steel train travelling at very fast speeds. Unfortunately, some thrill rides can't be designed with every size in mind.
Well yeah (rules and regulations) are In place for your safety. Lol you're not that special to be offended. Glad you're alive though. Go have a 🍪
@@TheAazah It was a personal decision to kick me off, not a systems one. I'm just relating to the situation in the video, and feeling empathy for the attendant.
Someone died on that very coaster because the operators let him ride when they shouldn't have (he was a double-amputee war veteran; the lap bar restraints don't work if you have no legs).
Now, the Superman hypercoaster at Six Flags New England had an accident more like the New Texas Giant one: it had simple T-bar restraints, and a large rider who also had cerebral palsy and limited body control slipped out and fell from the ride right at the end. Eventually the restraints were redesigned to the current "U-bricks" that enthusiasts complain about all the time. I personally think they're not that bad.
@@MattMcIrvin a similar accident happened in the adventuredome in lv
@@staringcorgi6475 Wow, I don't think I heard about that one. I looked it up and it sounds very much like the Darien Lake Superman one, though it was an El Loco instead of a hyper.
the walk through described at 6:38... imagine being a nineteen year old and getting told at work to go walk and find a dead body
Well, they wouldn't know they're dead if they died. Some riders still survive in accidents like this, you would be told to find the missing guest.
Yeah but she was nearly cut in half. Thats horrifying in itself. Its a blessing, at least on the operators side, that they didnt witness a screaming dying person in that state. That would be even more traumatizing than what they actually came upon (god rest her soul. Poor lady. )
@@KawaiiBabyTragonI mean, I don't know if it would be less horrific to find someone flung off a ride who was still alive.
I remember this when it happened. The woman should never have been allowed to ride. I can't find the stats now, but I remember reading she was under 5 feet and morbidly obese. She also told the workers she didn't feel secured in the seat and they dismissed her. You can google a pic of her. I cannot imagine the terror she felt, or the I believe young boy (no releation) who was seated with her. Per the police report, I downloaded from Scribd:
" I observed multiple areas of human tissue and other bodily fluids. I proceeded past this area into the fenced in area which led underneath the ride's tracks. In this area immediatelyunderneath the tracks, I noticed various internal organs that had been dispersed throughout. After passing from
the north side of the tracks to the south side, I looked on top of the corrugated metal tunnel and observed the body of the decedent. The top portion of the victim was hanging off of the tunnel structure while her lower extremities were wrapped around a wooden support beam."
I don’t know about that anecdote. If she didn’t feel secured in her seat, why did she ride? Besides, many people “don’t feel secure.” If the sensor said she was safe, that’s what the operator went by. It’s now assumed that the sensor was faulty, but the operators didn’t know that.
Also, if this video is accurate, she was unconscious when she fell out. Let’s just hope she was, for her sake.
@Marc W. Not to mention, it was said she only spoke Spanish. Thus, while not impossible, it is unlikely she'd be able to communicate this clearly to the ride attendants who are minimum wage teens.
🤢🤢🤢
Horrendous.
@@triple7marc Highly unlikely the sensor was faulty, Rosa's torso was simply on top of the lap bar, so she wasn't effectively restrained. As a coaster hobbyist who travels the country at least annually to ride & photograph coasters, I've seen many riders get refusals by an operator.
@@crooked-halo It just shows they need to update or adhere to height and weight requirements. THere are so many more obese people since COVID that they should be updating policies. I don't even know if there is a weight requirement
I remember going to over Texas in 2015 for the first time and being scared to go on anything extreme due to this accident
Fortunately thanks to your videos and me being more brave, I am now able to ride new Texas giant and other extreme rides
This is my home park and I was so dumbfounded when this happened since the ride was basically new. Thank you for the coverage hopefully safety has improved
I feel like this is such an improvement over the previous version from what I remember, much more fair and objective, and covers more details.
I'm considering also redoing ride of steel
@@CoasterCollege I thought your last video on ride of steel was, while short, pretty informative. A newer, more fleshed out, explanation would be cool to watch. As far as being fair and objective, I think your ride of steel video was fine. It definitely paints a certain narrative, but as long as that's what actually happened and no important details are misconstrued or skipped, I would consider it to count as objective.
I'm more angry that Texas allows for silence on the park side. No report needs to be made public. While 1 million sounds great at least half of that goes to the attorney immediately. Then costs for the trial are taken out on top of that. The family maybe received a few hundred thousand at most for watching their loved one die so tragically and deal with it all being so public to boot. Just a sad tragedy all around.
A million is not enough. Car accident victims get more than that.
Red states LOOOOVE protecting the interests of corporations.
@@h1jen1x IT WAS SIX flags at fault. They used the car manfacture as a fall guy, it's sick actually their operator dismissed the riders concern and it was six flags own fucking deucsions and demands for less safety mechanisms than led to this
I was one of the final riders of the OG Texas Giant. I went to Six Flags in the spring as part of my senior class trip and wanted to ride the Giant one last time as I’d ridden it before when I was a young child.
And yeah, it was one hell of a rough ride on those wooden tracks. I got battered and thrown back-and-forth in my seat and exited the ride with sore hips. But dear GOD was it exhilarating to take part in. Felt like a ride that separated the boys from the men with how rough and rickety it was.
I’ll miss the OG Texas Giant, but it was a good call to shut it down and renovate it.
This poor woman and her family. Imagine going to have a good time with your family only to see your family member die in front of you in one of the worst ways possible. Absolutely heartbreaking 💔💔
For anyone saying this ride is fat shaming, it isn't I rode this ride once on vacation and can tell you at 90-something pounds I felt like I was going to fall out and die myself and this happened after the accident occurred all the stuff added is probably the only reason I'm still here. This ride isn't meant for anyone on either side of the extreme weight wise point blank period
Yeah, that’s called airtime. You weren’t in any danger whatsoever.
@@triple7marc Tell that to the family of the women killed! Did she enjoy the “air time” too?
@@werewolflover8636 Just letting you know that your argument is stupid and makes no sense. Her restraint was never locked to begin with. Literally everyone else who rides it experiences airtime, which s safe because their restraints are locked.
@@werewolflover8636 Huge difference. Geometry of a lap bar affects smaller and larger riders' safety differently. Nobody has fallen out of a ride because they're too skinny (too short, yes).
I remember riding this coaster a few years before the accident. I was seated next to my dad and he was a lot bigger than me, there was probably a good six inches between my thighs and the restraining bar. It took everything I had not to fly out on the first hill. It was one of the most terrifying experiences I ever had on a coaster.
It’s not a shared restraint though, it’s an individual one
its individual restraints though. u sure youre thinking of the right coaster?
Being a former ride op @ AstroWorld + coaster enthusiast. Many ppl. asked my opinion of the accident prior to the investigation. My response was the rider was to large to take the ride safely. I've been to IAAPA Expo many times around the US. I'm 5'-8" but now exceed 300 lbs. A coaster with 3-6g force would put excessive force on the restraints putting ME + others in jeopardy. Redundancy at that speed is a MUST! I have gotten off of rides I felt unsafe in prior to dispatch. SF & Gerstlaurer played blame game. SF threw G under the bus. Like with an air crash., Operator/manufacturer will often SHARE blame. This is NOT the only time SF messed UP! It's been on many rides + park ventures + bankruptcy .
Super cool insight! I never even thought about that.
How about lose weight for your own health and safety?
I find it amazing that no one is placing any of the blame with the rider herself. It doesn't take an engineer to understand that the bigger and heavier the person the more strain will be put on the restraints. If the restraints were not coming down completely because of the size of the rider then the rider should have called it and exited the ride BEFORE it started. The way I see it the employees are there to double check, but it is up to each individual to also make sure that the restraints are doing their job. It's your life. Take some responsibility for it.
@@overbuiltlimitedthen there needs to be clear and emphatic instructions. Written, verbal and visual.
@@h1jen1x Is there a person giving you clear and emphatic instructions verbal, written and visual every time you buckle up in your car too? What would you do if the seat belt of your car wasn't't working properly? Drive anyway and then blame someone else when you got hurt I suppose.
Having recently become obsessed with aviation, I can see how theme parks and those who design coasters and other rides, could take a few pages out of the aviation how-to book, basically.
In aviation, there is so much redundancy. This is so that if one thing fails, the plane can still fly because they have backups (and sometimes backups to the backups). When you said that Six Flags did not want seat belts and wanted to rely on the sensors, I already knew it was going to be a problem. Planes have various different sensors, to help tell the pilots their airspeed, their altitude, etc. Because sensors can become faulty, there is always more than one sensor relaying the same info, so if one fails, they still have another sensor that can give them reliable information. Six Flags relying on (presumably) one sensor per restraint AND not having a seat belt as a backup just in case, was really just an accident waiting to happen.
Another thing about aviation, though....there's a "no fault" type of mentality, in most places. Instead of placing blame, the goal is to get to the bottom of what and why something happened so it can be prevented in the future. Typically, there's more than just one cause to an accident; it's usually a bunch of things that add up. And I think the same applies here, to these sort of ride accidents. But I think, they could do well to adopt aviation's "no fault" mentality...i.e. focus more on making things safer instead of worrying about placing blame, and just release full investigation reports afterward because that can help rides elsewhere to be safer, also.
I'm in your "situation" sort-of-speak, and I was thinking the same sort of thing in terms of redundancy.
A lap belt at least would have been nice from the get go as far as this ride is concerned, but there are some other ones (more sketchy or extreme looking) that I would have considered adding some sort of ability to add a five-point system in addition to their current restraints.
As someone who rode the old Texas Giant religiously. It’s absolutely nuts that something like this didn’t occur during its time. I recall many times wondering if I was about to die riding on the back of the ride. It’s nuts to me that it happened after the renovation.
This is the best and most accurate telling of this event. Thank you for representing everyone fairly in this. It was a hard day for everyone involved. I hope the esparza family is doing well💙
As someone who was a ride attendant, these ride attendants did not do their job correctly or properly, for that matter. They put this lady's lives at risk and just decided to go with it. Six Flags is honestly truly to blame for this because they didn't train their ride ops properly enough, and the fact that they blamed Gerstlauer for faulty train design while they didn't follow Gerstlauer's recommendations to put that test seat outside. Gerstlauer is a proven ride manufacturer and putting blame on them is ridiculous, and Six Flags should have just been honest about that. They even worked with Gerstlauer carefully to ensure that the train was safe, so the fact that they think the manufacturer should be blamed for their design is BS to me at least.
I was at the baseball game during this. I remember seeing the helicopters while the game was going. They flew near us a couple times. We were supposed to go see Bridget Medler the next day at Six Flags but it was cancelled due to this accident. We didn’t know what was going on until the next morning when it was all over the news. It was such a sad day and I was heartbroken to hear of what happened.
That’s wild, first time i went to 6 flags was the day before lemonade mouth came out.
She was too big for the ride and slid out. They should have just hurt her feelings and told she's to big, she would still be alive.
This is why i always want a good old fashioned seatbelt as a back up on every coaster
Very sad and unfortunate. May she Rest In Peace. I think that both this and the drop tower incident gives all the justification needed for Cedar fair adding seatbelts when other chains may opt not to on the same ride model. Roller coasters are among the safest recreational activities, but have somehow become the victim to propaganda and misinformation regarding safety, so going overboard with safety is a must, in my opinion.
My analysis of who is to blame is this. Six Flags specifically requested that the ride vehicles not have seatbelts which would have worked as a secondary restraint and possibly could have prevented the accident. Six Flags over Texas was located in an area where Spanish is commonly spoken and neglected to accommodate for Spanish speaking guests by providing safety instructions in Spanish. The ride operators were poorly trained and should not have let the ride dispatch if the employee checking restraints had doubts about the safety of a rider’s restraints. Six Flags neglected to provide the test seat for riders to determine if they could fit. The manufacturer could have recommended Six Flags include the seatbelts or required it for ride safety, because its more likely for sensors to malfunction than a seatbelt. In the end I think the blame goes to Six Flags for excessive negligence.
The train company could've said no.
@@h1jen1xNo, they can't as that's called bankruptcy. That leads to death of the employees.
Dude I just gotta let you know your videos are very straightforward and informative as opposed to overdramatized “top 10” roller coaster channels and stuff. Great work as always.
Out of curiosity, do you think that accident reports should be made public in every state? Is there benefit to that, like having the public know if they are possibly putting themselves at more risk than they realized?
Yes
Yes - it would give parks better defense against the growing lot of people trying to use any and every loophole to illicit money from someone else (suing or lawsuits for no or fictitious reasons)
And help give clarity to others about the very rare, but very real, dangers of going to the park and how to avoid becoming a statistic, you know?
I don't actually think so.
Because what does a STATE know about roller coasters better than those in the industry?
State violations shuttle be public, and probably are.
But the fact is, there's not always a definitive answer determining the cause. And when this happens, it seems like the parks and manufacturers end up addressing every possible cause. And that's actually BETTER.
Now this is actually scary to think the restraint sensors could be faulty :x
Hence why i dont go on rides anymore
they werent necessarily faulty though
if the victim being a larger person is true, then the restraints couldve gone down far enough to properly lock, except be resting on her belly rather than legs like its supposed to
I heard somewhere that the restraint sensors were meant to be used as a last resort, not as a primary check. Relying on the restraint sensors was never meant to be the proper practice (at least that's what I remember hearing).
I’m from Arlington, I was 9 when this happened. I remember this reinforced my horrible fear of rollercoasters, which I’m still getting over. Still never rode the Giant.
I had just turned 12 when this happened, my birthday is in may and when this happened I didnt see it on the news and no one talked about it and I live in houston tx. In 2016 my sister had a cheerleading competition and we had to drive all the way to arlington tx to stay at a hotel that was across from six flags over texas and the time I didnt think much of it I have never been to six flags over texas so I didnt know. I remember opening snapchat to take a picture while we were driving past it and I wanted to put a filter on the picture I took and I saw in the filter that it said Six flags over Texas. We went back home the next day after the competition and I went straight to my phone on YT to see updates about the case and there was none. I left it at that but I was shocked that I stayed across the park where someone was killed. I was just on tiktok right now and got reminded about this case so I ran back on here to see updates and came across this video which is very detailed because back then I was left questionable and curious. I have never been on a roller coaster and never will this case gave me the reason to never get on one.
I was in attendance at the park the weekend after the accident. I had been so excited to ride new Texas giant, but of course it was closed.
I rode other rides that weekend, but I haven't ridden any since. When I had time to think about it, being a bigger gal myself and the rumor being that the guests size was why they were ejected, I was left with a real sense of mortality.
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I remember this day so well. My cousin was walking over there to get in line and walked up on the chaos. She called me immediately after in shock.
i love your videos, dude. no sensationalism, just the facts
I was working that day at Six Flags in First Aid. I was the paramedic that found the victim. Due to her adult children not speaking English proficiently, I wasn't sure if she was ejected accidentally, or if she had jumped out on purpose out of fear. (not that it mattered why she was ejected) Yes, she was practically torn in two. In my opinion, she was too fat to be on the ride. In my opinion, the restraint was resting on her belly or her breasts, not her lap, where it is supposed to be. So as the cars went down the first hill, she was already coming out, then flung off of the train on the second hill. Then she "plinko'd" through the supports, coming to rest on the corrugated metal roof of one of the tunnels.
I rode the Texas Giant in '99, and it made my boyfriend get a nosebleed. It rattled riders around so aggressively.
I live near there and have been to that six flags many many times. this was a total shock for many locals
I will never understand why companies don't want every rollercoaster to have seatbelts in addition to lockbars. I guess it might ruin the "thrill aspect" for some people, but I'm a giant baby and hate the feeling of being on a rollercoaster and knowing that a flimsy hunk of metal that isn't even touching my body is the only thing keeping my skinny ass from going flying. Maybe I'm in the minority, though, lol.
Edit: Also just want to mention that so many of these rollercoaster incidents would have been greatly reduced if there was an extra manual restraint, like a seatbelt, in place as backup for if the mechanical restraints fail. People would still probably get hurt but surely not as badly as being fully ejected.
I definitely can't speak for companies as a whole- but having to check seatbelts adds a LOT of time in the station, which adds to wait time, which adds to guest wait time
of course, safety is paramount, but it's been proven that lap bars are *almost* always extremely safe and adding a seatbelt can like, double station time and wait time
This is why I refuse to get on any ride that doesn’t have a seatbelt along with all the other restraints/harnesses. Malfunctions happen, especially with tech. Sometimes putting faith into ol’ reliable (older methods that have been around for over 50 years, tested and works no mechanically) adds that little extra sense of safety. Now of course… it wouldn’t save anyone from a total catastrophe if the case was total derailment or partial/full collapse of the structure, but that’s a risk we take. Best to reduce the risk by one less.
Alright so funnily enough, another public industry already had this problem of relying too heavily on tech in the 80s, thinking it impervious to error, and now it's one of the safest and most regulated modes of transportation in the world. Aviation was changed forever when, sometime in the 80s, a pilot in Florida crashed a jumbo jet cause autopilot was still a new technology at the time, and it became known as the first official jumbo jet crash. The official NTSB report did say that the airline (Forget who) failed to train pilots to use the autopilot correctly by basically not telling the pilots every detail about how autopilot works, or that it could be disengaged by the tiniest little bump at the time. I'm curious to see how this accident unfolds and what Six Flags decides to do about it...
@@caseking3656 such fascinating history! I should suggest fascinating horrors and dark history to cover those stories. Those two channels cover disasters and catastrophes caused by negligence, malfunctions, and carelessness that created such an impact that regulations, laws, and rules were created to prevent such issues to ever happen again. Highly recommend those two.
Edit to add: I forgot that I added one more to the roster called “Plainly difficult”. They are truly tragic stories but are a harsh lesson for prevention in the future.
I feel like nowadays theres no reason why a ride shouldn’t have seatbelts, gives riders an extra feeling of safety too
Redundancy means more if there are multiple systems with the same purpose instead of multiple of the same system.
@@caseking3656 Jack's, Jack stands and maybe a tire under the car too while working under it. Redundancy is the key to not playings with people's lives.
The reason? I called the reason out back when this incident occurred. The proof to my theorem only gets better now I've seen the amendments they made. The big reveal is at 9:41.
My suspicion back then is that the bar was fitted to a secure position which was accepted by the park to allow larger guests to ride, a design that isn't often seen in European parks but is common in American parks due to regional size differences... Some parks have a larger persons seat or row on their trains that allow the restraints to be what looks like wide open. A possible occurrence on the red v blue train on specification.
Going back to the point: when the bar was fitted it was to the woman's stomach and not her lap. After cresting the first drop, her stomach goes above the lap bar and thus leaves a ton of space and a little more than 'wiggle room'. After cresting the next hill, she is ejected whilst holding onto the restraint and therefore toppling her over onto her head and then later ejected from the laterals of the overbanked turn.
And so you now have their new safety precautions.
1. A seat that should've been there in the first place since they already had it provided (I don't know why Six Flags couldn't be bothered to just quickly bolt it to the floor in the first place but whatever) in order for you to see if you're too large or not.
2. A sign that says how to use a lap bar if you're a larger person.
3. Measuring device so that if you are too large, the park can prove it and send you away.
4. Larger padding was put in place so that if you are too large and escape no.3 on the list, the damn thing won't lock for you now anyway so unlucky.
5. Shin guards, so that in the very rare event of this and almost into replication of the incident; it's so that she doesn't do that flip onto her head part before the ejection. The fact they added shin guards makes it so obviously clear to me that Gerstlauer had no malfunction whatsoever on their trains or restraints because otherwise this wouldn't be necessary whatsoever.
6. seatbelts... well this is an obvious 'well you said you didnt want them so you're the one to blame for that' upset for Six Flags in which they don't want blame for again.
It's a horrible accident but I don't really think the park or Gerstlauer could ever even make a public comment saying 'well her fat folds fell out'.
P.S. if you find this comment hateful/hurtful please address it as it is not meant as such. This comment is not designed to hurt the feelings of anyone with a large weight. It may seem harsh on what I report but from all evidence, this just is the case of this tragedy.
It's particularly tragic because they KNEW something was wrong before the train even launched
Fear of consequences from telling someone they're too big for the ride.... that was the ultimate cause.
Bingo
Al Bundy would've saved her life if he operated the ride.
They couldn't, unless they spoke Spanish...
Different park and coaster, but when I was little kid about 8 years old I went on my first big coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm. It was a wooden coaster, Ghostrider. It had these old, weathered padded lap bars, and I don’t remember there being seatbelts. When we loaded onto the train, I realized that my lap bar was loose and wasn’t locking. The attendant only really tapped the bars for everyone’s seat, not pushing and pulling. I was a socially anxious kid, so I had trouble speaking up about it despite my worries that it didn’t appear to be holding me in properly. My dad was next to me in the other seat, with a different lap bar. I told him about the lap bar, but honestly I don’t remember his reaction. I just remember him being excited to take me on my first real coaster.
OH. ALSO. I was essentially tricked into going on it. He told me that the ride we were going on “wasn’t attached” to the big drop hill, that was a separate ride. Yeah, I was a gullible kid too. So when we started ascending that first hill, it sunk in that I’d been dooped.
I was more terrified of the height than the lap bar at that point. Because once we dropped, I clung onto that damn thing like a life preserver. It bounced WAY more than it should’ve as the coaster crested over more hills. My ass left the seat multiple times, one of those times was distinctly more terrifying than the others. I was basically being ejected. But I clung onto that damn lap bar and kept my head down. I was a tiny kid but those overhead supports with warnings not to stand up made me believe I’d be thrown out and crashing right into one of em.
Once the ride was over and we unloaded, I was still scared shitless, but on that day my inner thrill seeker was born. I still love coasters, going to theme parks to go on the crazy rides is one of the best times I have as an adult. But fuck man, when I think back to that first experience, knowing what I know now about coaster safety, I get chills. I was shaken around and so close to being popped right out of that seat like a damn tennis ball. That attendant couldn’t have done less to check our restraints. My dad was laughing and proud of himself for having tricked me onto that ride. And after the fact I laughed along with him and was glad he did. But now I just can’t imagine how he would’ve felt if I’d actually fallen out. Christ.
Your dad sounds like mine. He tricked me on splash mountain into thinking we weren’t at the drop yet…we were about 5 s away I just couldn’t see outside yet.
damn dude i got a huge fear of thrill rides from my dad tricking me onto stuff lmao kudos to you
Thanks so much for these videos, I needed to write an essay so your videos really helped
This is a good video with lots of info, but didn't mention the probable, simple reason Rosa came out of her seat. She was exceptionally obese, and most of her torso was on top of the lap bar. The majority of her weight & bulk wasn't restrained. The strong negative Gs on the lower hill of the double up (immediately after the first drop) caused her to dislodge from her seat, and she left the car entering the high banked turn which follows.
Yes I agree but I think her size isn’t mention out of respect for her family and loved ones. Nobody wants to be accused of far shaming even when it’s not shaming. This is a tragedy that should never have happened! It’s almost identical to what happened to another woman decades ago on the classic Colossus at Magic Mountain. This woman also was very very heavy and carried her weight in her midsection so the lap bar was locked but it was resting on her belly and not even close to her thighs. The negative g force on that first drop ejected her in almost the same way. The fact that after thr incident there hadn’t been another incident like it since kind of confirms that her size played a major role in what happened.
@@Missglam67 This death caused sweeping, important, overdue changes in the amusement industry in the way that obese riders are handled. Test seats, increased seatbelt usage, and changes in ride entrance sign verbiage all began because of this tragedy. These changes have made it safer for those who should not be riding. This is not about shame, it's about safety.
What's truly sad is that cases like this become more of a cover-your-butt and shift-the-blame attempt rather than actually a dispassionate and honest inquiry to find out what part of the safety-system failed. Sometimes an accident is NO ONE'S fault (lawyers and insurance companies don't want to hear that), although in this case it does seem like evidence might have been pointing toward certain decisions and possible issues.
I totally disagree.
Parks and manufacturers have entire legal departments to handle legal matters. and financial departments to profit, grow, and compete.
The absolute commitment to safety is how amusement parks became an industry and not merely novelties.
Thanks for sharing. What a horrible tragedy. A rider came to have fun and and a mistake caused a death. I'm 60yrs +, and I genuinely love roller-coasters! But, Safety First! Always! Sorry that you shared this tragedy, but thanks. J.
ok so i watched a different version of this previously and i live in texas so i remember this, lets just say she was way over the weight limit. yes rides have weight limits as well as height one of the operators didnt want her to go on as she was too big but since she was with her family they let her through and u can understand what happens when safety is ignored u f around u find out. her momentum was greater than her secureness resulting in her fat compressing and her slipping through the restraint, i dont remember ever going on the new version but i went on the old version over the years and the alst time i went on it in like 2009 is scared me so freaking bad from how unsafe it was i refused to go near it but it was scary and fun previously but it got to be scary and not fun u literally felt like it would break any second how much noise and how shaky it was from years of abuse
💯 correct
I rode that ride a week before the accident… I’m so thankful for my life. I feel awful for that family who rode it.
I can’t believe that happened almost 10 years ago, I remember when that first happened like it was yesterday
Considering where Arlington is, the fact that there was no Spanish signage is... exceedingly odd as Spanish speakers are a HUGE population in D-FW in general. But man, I remember hearing about this and knowing that my decision to ignore New Texas Giant was a good idea when it first opened. Not that I liked the original Texas Giant, either, since it was horrendously janky and screwed my back up every time. Also not the first time Six Flags over Texas has had some kind of issue with their coasters, I remember that when they opened The Titan there were SEVERAL reports of people passing out from the G Forces of the ride itself and that was a WHOLE ordeal. Also another ride that I rode once and went "I'm good, let's not do that again". Ugh.
Graying out on Titan's two spirals still happens & is a wonderful part of the ride.
The issue was her size and thats the fact. I meant to say not really her fault. these ride operators need to do a girth measurement before loading. Its horrible what happened to her. No one deserves this. (Sorry for the initial typos)
The ride attendant checked the board which showed the restraint was in a secure and safe position! If their was a limit of size it should of been stated to the rider and more importantly the system meant to prevent such an accident should of stayed the restraint wasn’t in a safe position! The rider was the victim here and this is clearly negligence and an unsafe system on this ride!
I was there the following day, I had not heard the news before getting there. I remember finding out, and the ride operators on the Titan used foam spacers to check lap bar spacing.
I think I already knew most of what was in this video, but it's still a good video like the others. And while I like these types of videos, I would like it even better when you literally run out of serious accidents to put into these videos.
I'm starting to run low, most of whats left does not have very good accident reports.
i remember a ride on Nemesis, there was an obese woman trying to enter the seat, but no matter how hard the staff tried to staple her in, the restraint would not lock. she was then denied to ride. lap bar restraints though might fail to secure 'large" people because of all the soft body mass wiggling its way out due to the g-forces. dont know though if train manufacturers take that into account.
That's exactly what happened here.
that summer, my family ended up going to disney and universal one month after it happened and i did not ride anything because i was so scared. being 10 yrs old at the time and from the dallas area, this accident really stuck with me
I had also went to california to go to disneyland for my 13th birthday back in may of 2014 and I didnt want to ride the roller coasters there but I rode on other rides. I have never liked roller coasters and never will and I have never been on one and this case was the final straw for me to get away from riding a roller coaster ever. This case traumatized me badly, I didnt see it on the news and no one talked about it I had to find out on youtube while I was scrolling around and I kept watching more videos about this case and it didnt give out much detail back then so it left me a bit questionable. I havent looked back into this case until 2016 when I had to stay at a hotel across six flags over texas for a competition that my sister was in. I went home to the next day and still no updates about this accident so I left it at that. I was just on tiktok right now and got reminded about this case so I ran to youtube and found this video and now im relieved to know what actually happened but still I will never get on a roller coaster.
I was at six flags the day it happened. I had just gotten off the ride and was walking back with my cousin to ride again. It was terrifying, we didn’t see anything but we were ushered out and six flags was like a ghost town. My cousin and I never went back and haven’t visited since
Congrats ahead of time on 100k subs! Thank you very much for the uploads. Awesome videos
Thanks for being here watching!
Please do more videos like this I heard about this it was all over the news here in Dallas Texas, RIP to the victim 🙏🏾
Both this accident and the one on shoot the rapids actually happened on the same evening
this video made me remember the last time I road the new texas giant. I road before this happened I was maybe 11 to 12 years old. I remember complaining that my belt was super tight was we left the station. Then as we went dont the first drop my belt unlocked. I remember grabbing it and screaming at my dad it was unlocked. I came out of my chair on that drop If my dad hadn't thrown his arm across me when that turn hit I probably would have gotten thrown. After the first turn it relocked but it was lose enough that I could slip out of I wanted too. At the end I remember my dad saying that my belt unlocked and the platform worker denied it saying it wasn't possible for them to unlock mid ride. I'm 21 now and refuse to ride coasters anymore
Sounds like the TX Giant is a death trap waiting to happen, and the crew doesn't seem to care.
@@XiaoFury not true also @GenderIsTaken, it's likely it was just airtime. unless u were too short to be riding in the first place or any other physical setbacks
Ive ridden that same roller coaster in 1995 several times. It was very rough riding and I almost lost my glasses.
I think the blame on both the park/ride manufacturer and the woman. The ride needed a better sensor for the safety bar locking in place, as that seems to be the the piece of info that attendants fell back on in the case of uncertainty. It probably also would have been a good idea for a net of some kind over the tunnel where the woman landed (it probably wouldn't have saved her life, but it could at least have helped with retrieval). The ride could have used an emergency shut off that activated when the passenger was ejected too.
However, the woman should not have been riding if she couldn't understand the operators' instructions because of a language barrier. It's not up to the operators to know every possible language a passenger could speak (especially if the operators are teenagers), and the responsibility falls on the passenger to ensure she had someone who could translate the instructions for her. She also shouldn't have been riding if her size have the attendants pause. I've been the bigger person on a ride before, and yeah, it's embarrassing to be asked not to ride due to your size, but the operators have a duty to keep riders safe. It's a better safe than sorry situation where if there was even the slightest concern, the rider should have been removed rather than allowed to ride
I could have misunderstood parts of the video, but as I understand it, there wasn't a test seat for larger guests, so I don't see any reason for the woman to think she might not be able to fit. Even if she had understood English, it doesn't seem like there was any information conveyed that could have changed the outcome, only improved restraints or sensors, or the attendant listening to their hunch (which, as a ride attendant myself, I don't see any reason that they would go against what the system said. you're told that the sensor turning green means the lap bar is properly and safely locked)
@@jellybean0L I'm also a ride op and while I work at an FEC with no coasters, I'd double and triple check a guest that felt unsafe. Plus, if they speak English they could simply ask to get off (you can't force someone to ride). Maybe she wanted to get off but no one could understand her...
So almost every coaster fatality I've seen has had one common trait. Every victim has been very obese.
No shoulder restraint going down a steep hill..that makes ton of sense
How absolutely horrifying. The trauma for everyone involved will be lifelong. Awful.
I’ve been riding the Texas Giant since its opening day in 1990 and there have always been announcements in the station in both Spanish and English.
As a kid growing up in Texas at the time I remember this story vividly. I had rode that ride for the first time a year or two before. Had me shook on roller coasters ever since.
That statement that "the red train is more accomodating to larger guests" is chilling after that Orlando drop tower last year.
I wonder if you will ever cover ride accidents from Lake Compounce in CT. There have been several fatalities.
I local TV station was able to get the souvenir photo taken of that car on that ride. The guys in the front seat (unknowing what happened) were so excited and having a blast. You could see the empty third row, and everyone else on the train had a look of total shock on their face.
if you haven't heard the phrase "all regulation is written in blood", we need to know it lol. it's a statement which you should agree with. some states have dropped the ball in this area as we know. ride manufacturers are just as responsible. and the coaster industry is definitely one of the most careful industries, which i love. but we should still advocate for all of our rides to be as safe as possible so everyone can ride.
i want everyone to feel safe on a ride. this applies not only to making sure ride manufacturers are top notch but also making sure ride attendants and staff are paid well. when people care about their job we are all safer
this was more graphic and detailed than I heard before. wooww
Glad you enjoyed!
I feel as if Sixflags would have gone with the seatbelts initially, this would have been prevented.
@@5licckoo215 and the shin restraints.
What potentially caused the accident was the test seat, six flags never used the test seat to see if she fit or not, six flags most certainly takes the blame for not putting it in
You're very respectful, thank you
I do remember hearing about this. I have been on that ride many times, and I was an obese person when doing so, with no ill effects. Sometimes accidents just happen. It’s tragic, but it happened.
I rode the Texas Giant at Fright fest back in October of 2022 and let me tell you they pushed the lap bar so far into my pelvis that it actually physically hurt. The ride is so rough which didn’t help considering how tight the restraint was on my pelvis
It’s actually not that rough, just don’t get stapled into your seat, that’s all.
New Texas Giant is not the least bit "rough." It's glass-smooth just like all RMC coasters.
I think sometimes no matter what, with a certain weight it just can’t function right. Many people would argue it’s very rude to be asked to weigh yourself but honestly they should be allowed to make you weigh yourself if their questioning it to make sure your safe .people may disagree but it’s what I think Because a lot of accidents are weight related it seems
Remember this one all too well sadly. Was on this same ride hours before this tragedy happened.
To me this sounds entirely like Gerstlauers fault. If Six flags followed all maintenance and operational procedures then it's not their fault. Gerstlauer stated it should've had seatbelts but Six flags didn't want them, but if Gerstlauer knew if would be dangerous to produce the trains without seatbelts then they should've said no.
Wow, I rode the Texas Giant in the 90's, it was so so rough due to it being made out of wood. I also took my kids after it became the New Texas Giant. We did not have an even amount of people. I was seated in a car without another person next to me. After we went down the first huge drop and that sharp turn right after. I smacked my head on the bar next to me, as no one was by me to stop the jerking. It ended my day of fun and exited the ride vomiting with a goose egg on my head. Probably had a concussion. I hate that thing! Will never ride it again. I have also ridden the one at Fiesta Texas. It was not nearly as bad.
I was on this ride the night before. I remember being in line teasing my friend’s little cousin because she was afraid to ride. I was telling her how there were no seatbelts. Then when we got on, the workers didn’t do a good job checking our restraints at all. I was horrified to hear what had happened the very next day!
I work for Six Flags from 2018 to late 2022 both in Rides (all the way up to supervisor) and later on in security. I started at Over Texas, moved to a couple other parks, and ended up back at Over Texas before I was let go from security.
If Six Flags doesn't want you to know something, bottom line is you're just not gonna know it.
Over Texas especially is run like "we just don't want you to know [X thing] regardless of our reasoning and if justifiable reasons exist, great, if not, too bad we're still not talking".
Ops is the worst. I don't know if they still have it, but there is a sign in there that said "there is no crying in ops" because it's the nerve center of the park especially for operations (park services, rides, etc). The Ops people can be - and more than often are - nice, but you would have an easier time getting information out of Fort Knox than you would the ops dispatcher or anyone in the office.
Secrecy is key regardless of circumstances at Over Texas. If there is an incident - big or small, death or no death - it's "shut up, fix it, move on, be quiet, and stay in your lane".
Even if the computer says the lap bars are secure, I don’t trust it. About 15 years ago, me and my co workers got on the Batman at Six Flags in Vallejo, CA and it had the restraints that come down over your head of course due to all the flipping and turning at high speeds. We were all securely fastened (so we thought) and the conductor gave the thumbs up for the other conductor to start the ride. Right when we were about the go, we heard a sound like air was being let out of a tire and then all of a sudden, the restraints for everyone that was in our row, just came back up!! Like the ride was over and we were getting off! Just our row. We were ALL puzzled even the conductors! They came over and pushed them back down and sent us on our way. I was so young then but when I look back, this situation with six flags could have easily happen to us had that train left 😮
That was a controlled restraint unlock on a restraint system completely unlike the ones on NTG. Likely done to remove or reposition a rider on the row behind or in front of you. On those rides restraints are unlocked in rows of two. The restraints require physical pressure to stay unlocked, without this they will lock. This pressure can only be applied in the station and the train cannot move with it applied.
Thanks for explaining!
Sensors should never trump an eye test that something isn't safe.
I used to love the old texas giant!!! I remember riding it like 3 times in a row and thinking "I'm totally going to die!" Especially when you saw it was built out of wood 😳
The one thing I like is that they looked around and fixed OTHER coasters that have the design flaw. It’s so common to get tunnel vision and focus only on the accident and not look at the bigger picture.
I remember hearing about this incident and my original thoughts were how terrified she may have been holding on before falling. I do hope she was unconscious at that point...it's bad enough to be flung to your demise like a rag doll, but to feel yourself slipping and knowing you can't do anything but pray your upper body strength can defy gravity at those speeds....
and now to realize that they did their own secret investigation...may not have been hiding anything but the finger pointing game made light of her passing and the trauma everyone endured....