Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread

[ernierocker]

^This isn't common maintenance on the ride though. This was due to damage caused by the train. I'm sure Gerstlauer can handle regular maintenance for many years to come.

[chadster]

^^ No worries, she will be around for a while This was simply a case of the domino effect, one thing broke which in turn caused several other issues, when all is finished she will be better than new

 

A local said that the park has been a lot emptier ever since the accident, but as a visitor I wouldn't know how true this is.

 

This would be accurate. This time of year you should be seeing 30min to 1 hour+ waits for the majors. Considering they have two major attractions down for the count, it makes sense as to why its a little empty.

[TexasParkman]

I visit the Park on a very regular basis. I do not believe that attendance has been hurt much. I have still seen some very decent crowds.We are into 100 Deg + weather and attendance always suffers some this time of year. The Park may be taking a small hit from 2 major coasters being down. I do not believe that it is enough to be a concern. SFOT was very busy in May and June on several days.

[Sammy*]

SFOT is definetly in need of a new coaster. With two coasters down the park is kind if a snooze fest. I think Titan is fun and BTR and Skyscreamer are all fun but going back in forth between those rides, really makes you miss NTAG and Shockwave.

[Linders]

SFOT is definetly in need of a new coaster. With two coasters down the park is kind if a snooze fest. I think Titan is fun and BTR and Skyscreamer are all fun but going back in forth between those rides, really makes you miss NTAG and Shockwave.

 

Don't forget Mr. Freeze!!

[Linders]

The park is probably emptier than usual because people are across the street cooling off at Hurricane Harbor. They did offer some sweet combo pass deals and this is Texas, in the last week of July. I bet it will be like this for awhile. If NTAG opens up soon, it'll pick up again for a little while. Although, there will be a lot of people afraid to get on now, so lines might consist of die hards, at first till some time passes without an instance and people forget. And not to sound rude, and I am sure several larger folks will be a little gun-shy of getting on, too. Understandably so. It'll be interesting to see how they push the ride's opening, to convince people it is safe to ride, while not disrespecting Mrs. Esparza's family. I, for one will be there with my gang this week. And if it's true about the lighter crowd, we will enjoy the short lines! We didn't get combo passes because my kids aren't real confident in the water, so it would have been a waste of money. We prefer Six Flags.

[Jew]

^This isn't common maintenance on the ride though. This was due to damage caused by the train. I'm sure Gerstlauer can handle regular maintenance for many years to come.

 

It's not that they can't handle it...I just wonder if Six Flags is willing to keep footing the bill.

[DJeXeL]

^Good point. Also makes me wonder about Mindbender at SFOG as well.

[ernierocker]

Well, I will never assume anything when it comes to Six Flags so who knows.

[chadster]

^This isn't common maintenance on the ride though. This was due to damage caused by the train. I'm sure Gerstlauer can handle regular maintenance for many years to come.

 

It's not that they can't handle it...I just wonder if Six Flags is willing to keep footing the bill.

 

I'm not so sure they are footing all of this bill

[chadster]

Here is an interesting, but well written article that I don't recall being posted

 

DallasNews

 

Texas amusement parks and their insurers are responsible for safety inspections as well as investigating when something goes wrong, such as Friday’s fatality on the Texas Giant roller coaster.

 

The lack of an independent inspection system means that all involved have financial ties. But there are also other connections when it comes to the Texas Giant.

 

The firm that conducted the last annual inspection of the Texas Giant was started by Patrick Hoffman, now a top Six Flags corporate executive. Hoffman transferred the company to a business partner in 2001, about the time he went to work for Six Flags.

 

A Six Flags spokeswoman said by email that Hoffman had divested 100 percent of his ownership of PLH & Associates when he was hired by the amusement park chain. She described him as a leading expert on amusement ride safety and touted the qualifications of PLH.

Hoffman has been responsible for safety and risk management at the Grand Prairie-based chain.

 

“The Lundy Group is one of a handful of companies in the industry that employ individuals who are certified by [National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials] and the state of Texas,” wrote Sharon Parker.

 

“And the firm performs work for Six Flags and many other theme park companies, but is not involved in the Texas Giant ride accident investigation,” she said.

 

Two amusement ride safety consultants, who are both critical of the state inspection system, said the ties appear worrisome.

“On its face, it sure looks like a conflict of interest,” said Walter Reiss, a Pennsylvania-based inspector and sometime expert witness at trials.

 

He said there is already a “lack of objectivity” in the Texas system, which he described as “broken.” Reiss said he doesn’t trust any system that doesn’t employ and train its own inspectors.

 

Even with flawed systems, Reiss said large amusement parks typically do a good job of keeping their rides safe. Traveling carnivals are bigger problems, he said.

 

The internal investigation is continuing into the death of Rosy Esparza, 52, who died Friday night when she fell 75 feet from the Texas Giant. She was the second customer to die on a ride at the 52-year-old Arlington amusement park.

After the death in 1999, Hoffman and his old firm were hired to assist with the investigation.

 

Ken Martin, an independent inspector and ride safety expert in Virginia, said he has nothing negative to say about the abilities of Hoffman or current PLH owner Tim Lundy.

 

But he said keeping that name and its current connection to a Six Flags executive “doesn’t feel right.”

“A good attorney in Austin one time said the amusement industry is in bed with itself,” said Martin. He also called the industry a good-old-boy system.

 

Lundy, the current owner of PLH, could not immediately be reached for comment.

 

Esparza’s family members have said little publicly at the request of their attorney.

 

Work outsourced

 

 

It’s not clear what role — if any — Six Flags had in the selection of PLH for inspection services.

 

A safety services company based in a home in Maryland was hired by The Hartford insurance company to provide inspection services. That company then outsourced the inspection work to PLH, according to state records.

 

Industry supporters have said there is a strong financial incentive for insurance companies to make certain rides are safe and that accidents — particularly fatal ones — are rare.

 

The Texas Department of Insurance, which has oversight over amusement rides, was still assembling other Six Flags documents this week. It wasn’t clear how much work PLH does for Six Flags or how long it has been inspecting rides.

 

There have been no accusations against the person who conducted the Texas Giant’s annual inspection. Major rides are inspected daily. More thorough inspections are conducted at other intervals.

 

PLH employee Don Hankins last inspected the Texas Giant in February. He is also the former senior amusement inspector for the Oklahoma Department of Labor.

 

Martin said that Hankins has an excellent reputation in the industry and that Hoffman is also well-respected. He said he’s not as familiar with Lundy.

 

“If I saw that Don Hankins had inspected a ride, I would feel comfortable riding it,” Martin said.

 

Hankins was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

 

No recent violations

 

 

The state Department of Insurance has confirmed the agency has taken no regulatory action against Six Flags Over Texas in the past five years for violations of state law.

 

The state has the ability to refer amusement park operators to local law enforcement or the Texas attorney general for failure to inspect or insure rides or failing to report injuries.

 

The Texas Giant had all its required annual inspections since reopening in 2011, according to state documents. The roller coaster closed for a $10 million reconstruction that turned it into a steel-wood hybrid coaster.

 

The ride also had its state-mandated insurance with liability coverage 100 times what’s required by law, according to corporate filings.

 

Arlington police are also conducting a death investigation. Its role is limited to determining whether there is evidence of a crime. A police spokesman has already said there is no evidence of criminal action.

 

Staff writer Karen Robinson-Jacobs contributed to this report.

[Chittlins]

Fallout from the the incident has reached Silver Dollar City as new restraints for Outlaw Run appeared on Sat and folks that were once able to ride are now no longer able to. Hold off priase for RMCs new trains.

[chadster]

Fallout from the the incident has reached Silver Dollar City as new restraints for Outlaw Run appeared on Sat and folks that were once able to ride are now no longer able to. Hold off priase for RMCs new trains.

 

Perhaps you should first know what you are talking about and why the change was made. It was not made as a result of the Texas Giant incident.

[Jew]

^Perhaps you should share that reason. I think it was a fair assumption to make: shortly after a fatal accident involving ejector air, a modified train pops up on another one of the companies coasters. Not a reach to guess that the two are related, even if it is incorrect.

[chadster]

^Perhaps you should share that reason. I think it was a fair assumption to make: shortly after a fatal accident involving ejector air, a modified train pops up on another one of the companies coasters. Not a reach to guess that the two are related, even if it is incorrect.

 

It is shared in the SDC thread where the original poster also made the same post.

[TexasParkman]

It appears that the Dallas/FortWorth newspapers are at least attempting to be fair- I hope you find this atricle interesting:

 

By JEFF MOSIER

JEFF MOSIER The Dallas Morning News

Staff Writer

jmosier@dallasnews.com

Published: 30 July 2013 11:23 PM

 

Updated: 30 July 2013 11:43 PM

Major Texas amusement parks had a poor history of reporting accidents the last time a customer died on a Six Flags Over Texas ride.

 

About 14 years later, after the park’s second guest fatality, a review of state documents and lawsuits found that local amusement parks are doing a better job. But their reporting, available online at the Texas Department of Insurance website, is still not perfect.

 

A search of lawsuits filed against Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor, both in Arlington, found three claimed injuries in the past five years that weren’t reported to the state. During that same period, Six Flags reported 104 injuries to the state, including the July 19 death of Rosy Esparza, who fell from the Texas Giant roller coaster. Hurricane Harbor reported 79 injuries.

 

Six Flags, which owns Hurricane Harbor, did not comment on the three incidents that were not reported to the state. In 2001, Six Flags officials questioned whether some unreported injuries actually happened at the parks or met the narrow reporting requirements.

 

Texas law requires amusement park operators to report more serious injuries that happen on rides. Minor bumps and bruises don’t count, and neither do injuries that only require first aid.

 

Jerry Hagins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance, which has jurisdiction over amusement parks, said the reporting requirement isn’t part of the agency’s regulatory role. But it is mandated by law and serves a specific purpose.

 

“It’s for consumers to get a sense of how safe the various parks are,” he said.

 

Hagins said the agency doesn’t receive a large number of complaints about unreported injuries. He said that if a ride operator refused to report accidents, the agency could take the case to local law enforcement or the Texas attorney general’s office. That’s never happened, though.

 

 

 

Ride safety in Texas made national headlines after the death of Esparza, a 52-year-old Dallas woman.

 

A review of lawsuits did not find any unreported injuries at the NRH2O in North Richland Hills, at any of the four area Hawaiian Falls water parks or at Grapevine’s Great Wolf Lodge.

 

Texas’ system generally relies on amusement park operators to ensure the safety of their rides. The parks’ insurance companies hire contractors to inspect rides. And the parks are relied on to keep the state Department of Insurance informed about injuries.

 

That self-reporting system hasn’t always worked well. Only in the last five years has the information been available online.

 

Newspaper investigations more than a dozen years ago found large numbers of injuries claimed in lawsuits that weren’t reported to the state. There were more than 30 unreported injuries at Arlington parks, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The San Antonio Express-News found more than 100 at three amusement parks in its area.

 

State law says amusement parks must report injuries if they happen on the rides and require treatment from a physician or “registered professional personnel under the standing orders of a physician.” First aid or “one-time treatment” for minor scratches, cuts, burns, splinters and other minor injuries are excluded from the law.

 

In one recent case against Hurricane Harbor, a Dallas County woman claimed she was hurt during a summer 2012 visit. The lawsuit claimed that Yulma Molina was injured on an inner tube on a water slide.

 

Her attorney, Michael Pierce, said his client has been treated by doctors for neck and head injuries. The lawsuit is pending, but the injury hasn’t been reported to the state.

 

In another lawsuit, Keyvan Moslemi and his son, Pejman, said they were injured on the Mega Wedgie at Hurricane Harbor in 2010.

 

Their attorney, Magdalena Villalobos, said the tube the father and son were riding on was pushed too hard by an attendant. That caused them to bump into each other, and Keyvan Moslemi struck his head on the slide.

 

She said Keyvan Moslemi had a dental bridge broken and both were treated for neck strains.

 

Despite the injuries, Six Flags won a motion for summary judgment, which dismissed the case.

 

“That hurdle we had to get over was proving that they [Hurricane Harbor] knew or should have known that a dangerous condition or hazardous condition existed,” Villalobos said.

 

She said that’s difficult to prove even when there is an injury.

 

The reporting requirements aren’t contingent on whether the park is at fault. An injury caused by the negligence of a person on a ride would still have to be reported to the state. But if someone was standing in line for a ride and was injured, even if it was caused by park negligence, that wouldn’t have to be reported.

 

Despite that, parks often report injuries they don’t need to but also fail to report ones they do.

 

“We get reports of people falling down in line or getting ice on their ankles,” Hagins said.

 

IN THE KNOW: Information on rides

 

The Texas Department of Insurance regulates the state’s amusement parks and rides. The agency ensures that every ride is inspected annually, has insurance and is issued a sticker certifying it can legally operate. The following information is available on the Department of Insurance website at www.tdi.texas.gov/commercial/indexamusement.html:

 

Name of every amusement ride operator and home city.

 

Name of every ride and serial number.

 

TDI sticker number and expiration date.

 

Lists of injuries reported on rides, including age and sex of individual allegedly hurt, name of ride, date of alleged injury, brief description of alleged injury, and date injury was reported to state. The ride’s owner is listed by state registration number and not name.

[goatdan]

Took some time off this thread to let people calm down a bit, then read though some of it just now... Just a couple things to add:

 

Rides already discriminate against "fat" people based on their harnesses. If you get on a B&M invert for example and can't buckle the seatbelt, you can't ride - doesn't matter if your height is right or not. The key is that it isn't the ride operators looking at people and making a judgement call - the restraint is the item making the call for the rider with zero guesswork involved. As a matter of fact, really buff dudes get turned away from B&M inverts regularly because the harness locks nearer the upper body, making those with larger upper proportions easier for the ride to "discriminate" against then those with bigger bellies, thus why I threw the word fat in quotes at the beginning.

 

Regardless, this is almost definitely why NTG and IRAT are still closed - If the restraint closed around the rider who was ejected appropriately according to the restraints and standards that were in place, the park is going to want a new standard to be created and implemented before the rides reopen that will hopefully bar this from ever happening again. If instead the park re-opens the ride and a rider manages to be ejected a full investigation and tighter standards are enforced, then the second accident would be a negligent accident on the park's fault.

 

The exact same scenario played out in the SROS ejection. The restraint system showed that everything was okay, but it clearly wasn't, so the park created a new standard to hopefully prevent an accident like that from ever happening again. Based on the lack of ejections from that style of ride since that point, it appears as if the tougher standard "fixed" the issue.

 

The final thing is that while the legal system will probably find someone to "blame", the fact is that it is tough to do so in "real life". If the mechanics of the ride were fully functional as it sounds like they were, and the ride operators only sent the ride with the harness positioned tightly enough as they did (or they couldn't have actually dispatched), then the only thing left is that the original calculation of how far down the harness needed to be was wrong - but not on purpose. Simply put, in the millions of rides that the Giant has given since the reprofiling, it seems that the calculation was correct for every single rider except for one, unfortunately. It's hard to blame an engineer or designer for creating something that works perfectly 9,999,999 times out of 10,000,000, it's just that with a roller coaster the stakes are much higher and we demand perfection. And we should.

 

Six Flags is tougher with their safety than most. When the Superman incident happened at SFKK, Six Flags modified all of their drop rides to guard against the same scenario happening even though I don't believe any other company (chain or otherwise, including Cedar Fair) made the same changes to their rides. They'll finish this and the Giant will reopen with just as much wicked awesomeness as it has had in the past.

 

Sorry that was long, hope someone cared

[Linders]

Random goofiness. I'm taking my boys to SFOT for the first time since the NTAG accident. I was really really worn out, exhausted and tired when I went to bed last night. Knowing I was going today, coupled with my complete exhaustion must have influenced some crazy dreams. In one dream we were at Six Flags heading over to Titan and I noticed the Giant was open. WOOHOO! So, we bolted over to the line and got on. It was SLOOOOOOOWWW! What the heck? So, in my crazy wacked out dream, their "fix" was to slow it down and it was no longer fun. LOL. Wow. Glad that was a dream. Gonna go have some fun without the Giant today. I'll ride the Titan and Freeze a couple of extra times to try and make up for it. Weeeee!!

[tanthonyam]

^Shockwave is down for the rest of year while parts are manufactured.

 

I think Shockwave is a great ride, but I wonder how much longer the ride will be able to last if parts have to be special made...can't imagine Six Flags wanting that expense forever.

 

I wonder who makes the spare parts for The Whizzer at SFGA??

[Rollercoaster Rider]

^Shockwave is down for the rest of year while parts are manufactured.

 

I think Shockwave is a great ride, but I wonder how much longer the ride will be able to last if parts have to be special made...can't imagine Six Flags wanting that expense forever.

 

I wonder who makes the spare parts for The Whizzer at SFGA??

 

 

Maurer Sohne, Gerstlaurer, and Premier Rides?

[3Mutts]

^Shockwave is down for the rest of year while parts are manufactured.

 

I think Shockwave is a great ride, but I wonder how much longer the ride will be able to last if parts have to be special made...can't imagine Six Flags wanting that expense forever.

 

I wonder who makes the spare parts for The Whizzer at SFGA??

 

 

Maurer Sohne, Gerstlauer, and Premier Rides?

[Thri!!er]

Some useful link I can recommend, is (also) this one, the POB GmbH in Balzhausen...

 

Spare parts for roller coasters and carousels from the Schwarzkopf company:

 

http://www.rollercoaster-spareparts.com/index.html

 

 

Thri"Schwarzkopf-and-100percent-original-detail-fan-forever"ller

[Chittlins]

It's nothing to have to wait 6 months for something that needs machined. Especially a one off part. Not cheap either.

[chadster]

What they are having made isn't your typical maintenance parts, trust me if I could share more I would but rest assured the ride isn't going anywhere.

 

On another note, the operations at this park have steadily decreased over the season. 20+ visits this year and it's been a downward slide, noticeable cutbacks in operations staff, rides closing early or opening late that didn't use to, and rides with decreased capacity seem to be normal now. Night crew seems much friendly than the day crew by far. Maybe someone will wake up and take note soon or those record passholder sales won't be returning next season.

[Jew]

^Still not sure I believe that given the new Six Flags management team going back to the old ways...