Ejection on Goliath

On Monday, 12 October, a 42-year-old man was thrown from his seat on Goliath, a coaster with a 200-foot (61 meter) first hill at Six Flags Over Georgia, a park just outside Atlanta. Witnesses said he struck other riders before landing below the ride. Cobb County police identified him on Tuesday, 13 October, and described him as a school employee from Atlanta. Goliath has no seat belts; riders are held by lap bars that pull down over their legs and waist, and the coaster does not turn riders upside down. Officials have released no further information about the people who were hurt, and investigators have not yet established how he came out of his seat.

Nick Mendenhall had ridden Goliath earlier with his son and was watching the cars pass overhead when the ejection happened. He said the man seemed to hover because the car kept moving beneath him, then fell back headfirst into the car before being thrown out on the final turn.

It felt like slow-motion, but it happened in an instant.

Summer Bates, who was at the park with her husband and three children, said the sound of the man's body coming down would stay with her. Her family had also ridden Goliath earlier that day.

Six Flags closes coasters

Six Flags temporarily closed nine similar coasters across North America, saying it was acting out of an abundance of caution. A company spokesperson told EFE the closures cover ten coasters in total, counting Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia. The other nine are Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America in Illinois, a separate Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, Fury 325 and Thunder Striker at Carowinds in North Carolina, Orion and Diamondback at Kings Island in Ohio, and Leviathan and Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario. The spokesperson said no date had been set for reopening the rides and declined to give further details out of respect for the family's privacy.

The man who died

The man was 42 and lived in Atlanta. AP reports that he was an information technology manager at a public charter school and had earlier worked as a technology teacher. Adnkronos, citing the Atlanta Public Schools district, says he had worked for the district for more than 12 years, including at Wesley International Academy, where he was an information technology manager, technology teacher and robotics coach. The Wesley International Academy said he was devoted to his students and to the school community. His sister told the New York Post that he had survived cancer and a car fire about a month before the ride accident, and that he had loved his fiancee's daughter deeply.

Regulation gaps

Roller coasters at major amusement parks are not regulated by the federal government, so responsibility falls to the states, which take very different approaches. Georgia's Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner conducts annual ride inspections in the state, and a spokesman, Garrison Bennett, said the office is running a detailed review of Monday's events. U.S. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts has repeatedly proposed legislation to address a gap in federal law: safety officials can oversee mobile rides, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission is barred from fixed rides at large parks. Brian Avery, a University of Florida professor who studies ride safety, said more federal rules are needed and asked who checks that operators' staff are trained and that rides meet the standards.

Manufacturer and its rides

Goliath was built by Bolliger & Mabillard, a Swiss company founded in 1988 with sites in Monthey (VS) and Aigle (VD), according to watson. The company's website lists at least 52 coasters, while the roller coaster database credits it with more than 130. The company said it is

actively investigating the incident and will not comment further until we have a better understanding of what happened.

Its Silver Star at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, dates from 2002 and remains in operation, and the park said the ride undergoes annual TUV inspections and daily technical checks before opening. Goliath dates from 2006. Blick reports that several of the company's rides were taken out of service after the Atlanta death, that dozens of visitors at a California park have sued the company over brain injuries, and that at least three deaths since 2019 are allegedly linked to a ride. The California coaster was closed permanently at the end of September.