Former Six Flags Operator Explains How Goliath Restraint Could've Opened on Fatal Ride

So you also worked the Goliath, and why don't you tell us, number one, who does safety checks there? Are they kids your age, 16 to 18, whatever it was? And what exactly do they do to ensure that the passengers stay in there safely? So at the beginning of each season, we have a, I forgot what the actual name is, but we, all the rides are inspected at the beginning of each season. And the different rides have a different amount of cycles that they have to complete before they are allowed to operate. So I think Goliath is 50 cycles before it is allowed to operate for the season. And then additionally, every morning and every night, maintenance goes through and does a thorough check of everything that is going on with the restraint, all the mechanisms of it, the panel, the lift hill, the brakes. They go and check everything every morning and it has to be signed off before it is even allowed to operate for that day. and how we go by checking restraints is um on the panel there is a it's a led screen and it shows rows one through nine or i think it's seven cars so one rows one through seven and it shows uh seats one two three and four and whenever the train comes back to the station um if it's yellow that means that the restraint has not fully opened back up because we are not allowed to send the train out until all restraints are green it has to fully open back up and then close back down after they are all red that means they're in the up position they are required to have at least three clicks down before to even show green on the panel if it does not show green on the panel the buttons will not light up and there is no way to even dispatch the ride with any of their restraints being up even in the maintenance override there is physically no way for the ride to leave the station unless all restraints are green and at least three clicks have been given and they and they would they would only be green if they were down far enough or you're saying three clicks which okay would keep someone in there would keep someone in their seat regardless of how loose it was they would still stay in their seat correct and then additionally at the bottom by where it pivots there is a little yellow line um that is also a visual confirmation as to how far down the restraint needs to be if it is not past that then it will show on the panel hey this restraint is not closed far enough so we can't let that guest ride so if the LED light shows that it has to be green everywhere in order for the ride to even function um if that's so um it's confusing how somebody where it goes three clicks down or more um could fly off that ride to their death yes so there is this thing it's called pin slipping so how Goliath's restraints work specifically it is a pin and gear mechanism um they do not train all of the normal employees that work these rides specifically they only train us on how to actually check the restraints for that ride not how they actually function the only reason i don't have that function is because i'm a coaster enthusiast so i already look into all this stuff this is my habit um but how Goliath's restraints work mechanically is it's a pin in a gear system so as it rotates each pin locks into the um like the little pivot on the divot on the gear and per ASTM standards that's the safety system for roller coasters and what type of restraints they need to have based on the forces that it has this specific ride type needs to have two forms of redundancy that means that just a seatbelt or just one like a piston isn't capable of securing the rider properly so for Goliath it has two pins and two gears so it has one pin and one gear and then beside it also has another pin in the gear so that is its two forms of redundancy that it uses to secure the riders properly and then another ride Mako at SeaWorld Orlando it is the exact same ride type it is a B&M hyper roller coaster it has both a pin gear mechanism as well as a hydraulic restraint so it's two forms of redundancy and then at the at King's Island in Ohio or yeah King's Island in Ohio they have a ride called Orion it is also a same the same ride type for this manufacturer it has a pin and gear system a hydraulic and it has a seat belt as well but the seat belt does not deter from the fact that the pin and gear mechanism as well as the hydraulic was not safe enough so it's just an added on um form of safety on top of the already yes when you when you saw this story what was your first thought like how everything you just described the the car can't even the train won't leave the station unless everybody's restraints are down and there's redundancy right so what was your thought as to how this could have possibly happened so from my opinion what we have is called gear slipping this is when we have for the pin and the pin and gear mechanisms um this has happened before at a Great American Dream Machine because that also uses a pin and gear mechanism same as Batman it uses a pin and gear mechanism for the restraints um what we call gear pin gear slipping is when it is in between two notches if enough force is applied you can push it up another notch but that is why there's the three clicks that you need for to even show green so that there is still two backup steps in case it does slip a notch it still has two more to back it up after that so how would it slip on those other two so somebody would be hurled into the air um that i am not sure because i'm just using based on the information that i know and how the restraints actually work. Maybe there was something going on that day with maintenance that morning because I am aware that they do have a lot of new maintenance people working at the park this year. But that's just a possibility because of the pin slipping. That is a possibility of what could have happened. Because if enough force is applied, you are able to push the restraint all the way open. You can. Wow. You could actually push that even though it's secured. Yes. Even It's a very high amount of force that is needed, but it is very unlikely to be able to push it all the way open.