# Six Flags closes 9 North American roller coasters after families watch man fall to his death **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** breaking-news\ **Created:** [October 14, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838 "2026-10-14T18:13:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/1 "2026-10-14T18:13:00Z")
I didn’t see this being discussed anywhere, and I thought it deserved a thread – yesterday Six Flags closed nine of their roller coasters after an accident in which a man was “ejected” from a roller coaster at one of their parks. Non-paywalled AP article about the accident: [https://apnews.com/article/six-flags-georgia-roller-coaster-death-a9ce45f681772b828f7b5d3c59d010d1](https://apnews.com/article/six-flags-georgia-roller-coaster-death-a9ce45f681772b828f7b5d3c59d010d1) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/2 "2026-10-14T18:20:07Z")
My question is, what failed? The incident suggests the restraining system they use to keep passengers in place failed. How? Why? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/3 "2026-10-14T18:20:18Z")
This is horrific. I just want to share that once I rode the Mantis at Cedar Point (I practically lived at that park as a kid.) It was a standing looping upside-down ride with an overhead harness. So one day I jump on the ride, my harness wouldn’t lock at all, and the guy putting us in said, “Just pull it in tight to your chest” and sent me on my way. I was scared shitless the entire time. (Apparently they’ve converted it to a different coaster, the Rougarou, because I am old and things change over time.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/4 "2026-10-14T18:25:54Z")
I’m also wondering what went wrong. And this story is particularly disturbing; I understand that he struck other riders while falling. And he was seated next to his niece, as the amusement park excursion was for her birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/5 "2026-10-14T18:27:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And he was seated next to his niece, as the amusement park excursion was for her birthday. How horrible! She’ll be emotionally scarred for life. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/6 "2026-10-14T18:27:46Z")
Oh God that poor child, she’s never going to want to celebrate her birthday again. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/7 "2026-10-14T18:34:22Z")
Attendants who say things like to you that seem to have no concept of “wrongful-death lawsuit.” ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/8 "2026-10-14T18:36:33Z")
This is what the seats look like on the roller coaster: [https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmzywvzyp0df41.jpg](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmzywvzyp0df41.jpg) No seatbelts, just that part across your lap. I remember being about to go on a roller coaster at Cedar Point and then seeing it had a similar harness style. I noped right out of that. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/9 "2026-10-14T18:38:50Z")
Someone later told me that in my case there was no danger because of centrifugal force. But like obviously centrifugal force didn’t hold this guy in. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/10 "2026-10-14T18:40:21Z")
I enlarged it, and it looks like all the stress force is focused on the lower stomach area. If that bar fails, I see no way of staying in the seat. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/11 "2026-10-14T19:20:22Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > But like obviously centrifugal force didn’t hold this guy in. Different coasters have different G profiles. Some do maintain positive G on the passenger at all times. Any coaster that does a pushover at the top like that doesn’t have centrifugal force = positive G pushing you into the seat at that point. It has force the opposite direction “negative G” trying to fling you outwards way from the coaster = upwards. Which it duly did. Yikes! > [@Jasmine](#): > > If that bar fails, I see no way of staying in the seat. Agreed. It looks like that vertical silver-colored bar and the yellow “mushroom” head with grab handles on top probably pivots from its black colored base forward to allow room to get in and out, then pivots aft and latches in place near your stomach to hold you in / down. I say “near” because it has to accommodate large and small people. It’s probably got same range of adjustment, but that can’t accommodate 100% of the human population. If the mushroom comes off the shaft, the shaft disconnects from the pivot point near your feet, or the latch holding the bar in the locked aft position fails, then the first time you experience negative = outward G, you’re going flying. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/12 "2026-10-14T19:21:04Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > But like obviously centrifugal force didn’t hold this guy in. Goliath doesn’t have any loops, so centrifugal force doesn’t apply. > After leaving the [station](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_(roller_coaster) "Station (roller coaster)"), the train turns left toward the 200-foot (61 m) [chain lift hill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_lift_hill "Chain lift hill"). From the top, it drops 170 feet (52 m), reaching a maximum speed of 70 mph (110 km/h). It then climbs the first [camelback](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelback_(roller_coaster_element) "Camelback (roller coaster element)") hill before descending the ride’s tallest drop of 175 feet (53 m). A banked left turn leads to a second camelback hill with a 129-foot (39 m) drop. The train then climbs into a 540-degree descending [helix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix "Helix"), passes through a set of [trim brakes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_brakes "Trim brakes"), and traverses a third camelback hill with a 118-foot (36 m) drop. > > The train then enters a [horseshoe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_coaster_elements#Horseshoe "Roller coaster elements") turn, followed by three progressively smaller camelback hills with drops of 79 feet (24 m), 56 feet (17 m), and 48 feet (15 m). Following a banked left turn, the train makes a short drop before entering the final [brake run](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_run "Brake run") and returning to the station.[[12]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_(Six_Flags_Over_Georgia)#cite_note-POV-12) One ride cycle lasts approximately three and a half minutes.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_(Six_Flags_Over_Georgia)#cite_note-FactSheet-1) > **[Goliath (Six Flags Over Georgia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_(Six_Flags_Over_Georgia))** > > Goliath is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Over Georgia in Mableton, Georgia, United States. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the Hyper Coaster model climbs to a height of 200 feet (61 m) and reaches a maximum speed of 70 mph (110 km/h). It opened to the public on April 1, 2006, replacing the Great Gasp and Looping Starship attractions. Goliath ranked as the fourth-best new ride and ninth-best steel roller coaster in the 2006 Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today. Its highest... ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/13 "2026-10-14T19:25:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Different coasters have different G profiles. Some do maintain positive G on the passenger at all times. I’m going to hazard a guess that the teenager who told me to hold on tight didn’t know the difference. This is nightmarish stuff, I wonder how long he was aware it disconnected before he was ejected. I really feel for the witnesses, too. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/14 "2026-10-14T19:27:42Z")
Looks like he was on an ascending, relatively strait section of track when it happened. > **[Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem identified after fatal Six Flags roller coaster fall-...](https://m.economictimes.com/world/us/hassan-jihad-ibn-kariem-identified-after-fatal-six-flags-roller-coaster-fall-park-closes-nine-rides-after-the-goliath-roller-coaster-tragedy/amp_articleshow/134922467.cms)** > > Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem tragically fell from the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia. Witnesses reported seeing him leave his seat before hitting several people below. Investigators are currently probing the incident for mechanical... ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/15 "2026-10-14T19:45:26Z")
The ride has been open since 2006 with an estimated million riders per year. Same restraint system on other similarly designed coasters so I’d say it’s track record is pretty good. Don’t know if we’ll ever get an answer but it would be interesting to hear if the root cause was mechanical failure or operator error. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/16 "2026-10-14T19:54:48Z")
That’s really odd. He would not have been experiencing any directly upward forces while the seat he was riding in was still traveling in a straight line, no matter what the track incline was. Those forces would have started a couple seconds later as his car started cresting the hill. But … If he was near the aft end of the train, the train will begin to accelerate along the track once more than half of it is over the hump and gravity then is dragging the longer heavier front portion downhill towards the ground, and thereby pulling the shorter lighter back portion uphill at increasing speed. And the more train that has already gone over the hump, the stronger that effect is. The rate of acceleration will itself be increasing as the final car approaches the curved crest. From the Reddit closeup upthread it looks like the seats are smooth plastic / fiberglass and are also reclined aft a bit. If the restraint was ineffective for whatever reason, and the car was accelerated forwards, then he’d be pushed aft into the seat, and due to its recline, perhaps begin sliding upwards on the smooth surface. If that “sliding up the reclined seat” bit got him lifted halfway out of the car, then suddenly the car got to the curved part at the top and added outward centrifugal force to the mix as it crested the hill, he’d go flying for sure. As to the young niece. When I was a kid / teen riding coasters, many of the seats were two people wide with some sort of bar or maybe seatbelt that went across both passengers. This coaster has individual seats with individual restraints for each seat. That seems to be the more modern way. In recent years I’ve only seen the shared restraints on old fashioned coasters. Good thing. If they’d been riding in a car with a shared restraint configuration, and it had failed in the same way (whatever way that turns out to be) good bet the kid would’ve been ejected too. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/17 "2026-10-14T20:03:27Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > The ride has been open since 2006 with an estimated million riders per year. Same restraint system on other similarly designed coasters so I’d say it’s track record is pretty good. Don’t know if we’ll ever get an answer but it would be interesting to hear if the root cause was mechanical failure or operator error. That’s a tremendous amount of use and stress. Could molecular fatigue be a factor? I would say that they NEED to find an answer, otherwise I can’t see how they can reopen the ride not knowing if it is something that will reoccur. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/18 "2026-10-14T20:06:48Z")
The car is intact. It’ll be straightforward to identify what broke. Any competent material engineering or crash analysis lab will be able to look at the broken surfaces and understand why the materials didn’t hold as expected. Did the metal corrode until weak? Did a nut fall off a bolt then the bolt back out? Did the fiberglass mushroom thing fail due to cracking? etc. And if nothing broke, that suggests it wasn’t fully latched. Is the latch out of adjustment or tolerance? Is there a system that should close a switch on each seat only when successfully latched, and a safety interlock prevent the coaster from moving until all seat restraint latches indicate closed? etc. We sure don’t know now, but it isn’t rocket science to run these analyses since all the relevant parts are not further damaged by a crash. All that crash damage accrued to the victim. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/19 "2026-10-14T20:07:58Z")
I had a classmate who on a trip to Disney World stood up on the Space Mountain ride-and suffered a severe wound to his mouth and jaw from a crossbeam, they basically had to rebuild his entire lower face. How he avoided getting killed I still don’t know. They try to idiot-proof these rides (not saying the guy in the article was such note), but idiots will find a way if one exists [/Murphy’s Law]. [quick edit b4 the timer] His dad, a lawyer iirc, tried to sue them, to no avail. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838/20 "2026-10-14T20:26:48Z")
Yikes. That’s giving me flashbacks to the time I went parasailing and the two boat operators said “Wait, does that look right?” “No, we have to-” right before releasing me into the air. (Turned out everything was fine and they were just messing with me. Assholes.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/six-flags-closes-9-north-american-roller-coasters-after-families-watch-man-fall-to-his-death/1033838.md?page=2)