Guest thinks broken cable on Six Flags New England ride is more serious than the park says, gets a whole news article to make his case

It was no big deal, we had photos of it as it happened on our Facebook page from someone who was there and witnessed it.

"I can't imagine what would have happened if the cable snapped while the ride was in motion, OMG."

It probably would've been stopped in the station with an E-Stop.

Anytime a cable snaps on a ride it is extremely dangerous so of course it wasn't a minor malfunction. We saw what a broken cable could do to a person at Kentucky Kingdom.

When Deja Vu was at Great America and the rocket coasters were having issues with cables, I remember wondering what a catastrophic scenario it would be if one of the GIBs cables had snapped. If it snapped while lifting a train you have the cable, train and catch car all falling and if the cable gets tangled with the train you would have a disaster. I'm not even sure if the catch car had any sort of braking system to stop it in case of a cable break.

The park was extremely lucky nobody on or around the ride was seriously hurt. They are obviously downplaying the severity of the incident. Large steel cables free falling from 196 feet is obviously not a minor incident.

That article reads more like something from The Onion.

The Republican:

"The 'malfunction' was a huge metal cable in one of the coaster's two towers completely snapping and falling to the ground with a very loud noise, like someone dropping a large metal dumpster," said Tom Beggs.

Which left me wondering how Mr Beggs knew what a large metal dumpster hitting the ground sounded like. The article struck me as someone enjoying their 15 minutes of fame.

I thought you lived in Chicago? :)

I know exactly what that sound is. I live across from a school that has their dumpster and the neighborhood recycle thing in the parking lot. (Sounds glamorous, don't it?) I get to hear that sound, twice, a couple of times a week. And usually at 4:30 in the morning. Did I mention it's so loud that the dogs can hear it too?

Joking aside, it probably is very, very fortunate that the snapped cable didn't come in contact with riders, as those things can turn into the world's heaviest whip when they snap under tension. I'm sure the park thinks so too and is breathing a huge sigh of relief as they report the "minor malfunction". We'll see how long the ride is down and if the one in Idaho takes some time off as well.

And Mr. Beggs and clan should just thank their lucky stars and move along leaving well enough alone.

Go Intamin said:
"I can't imagine what would have happened if the cable snapped while the ride was in motion, OMG."

It probably would've been stopped in the station with an E-Stop.

There is no brakes on goliath. The cables are the brakes and when the catch brake fails the train rolls freely until it valley's.

^ oh. That's my bad. I haven't been on a giant inverted boomerang in ages, so I don't remember quite what the station setup is. Thanks for the correction.

RCMAC said:

I thought you lived in Chicago? :)

I know exactly what that sound is.

I was going on the assumption he was referring to a dumpster being dropped from a high height.

And I live in a very quiet Chicago neighborhood :-)

slithernoggin said:

The Republican:

"The 'malfunction' was a huge metal cable in one of the coaster's two towers completely snapping and falling to the ground with a very loud noise, like someone dropping a large metal dumpster," said Tom Beggs.

Which left me wondering how Mr Beggs knew what a large metal dumpster hitting the ground sounded like. The article struck me as someone enjoying their 15 minutes of fame.

A lot like a garbage truck...dropped off the Empire State Building.

They also linked an article just of facebook responses to the incident.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/07/facebook_reaction_to...ped_r.html

This one sounds particularly insightful:

"HELL NOOOO. I LOOKED AT THIS RIDE AND SEEN DEATH," exclaimed Maana Bin Lit, of Springfield.

Thanks for posting that, Ohiostater. My favorite scene in one of my favorite movies!

On recent trips to Great Adventure and SFNE I couldn't help but notice how their parks don't seem as well maintained as other parks I frequent more (Hersheypark, Knoebels and BGW. ) Makes me question how well maintained their rides are.

I stopped buying season passes and visiting Six Flags for several years because the closest park to me SFA is so ghetto that I won't go back. I have been debating whether we should give it another chance. Was even thinking about going tomorrow, or should I go to Knoebels instead (both are about the same distance from me?)

Hard hitting, thought provoking.

Coasterfantom2 said:
On recent trips to Great Adventure and SFNE I couldn't help but notice how their parks don't seem as well maintained as other parks I frequent more (Hersheypark, Knoebels and BGW. ) Makes me question how well maintained their rides are.

I stopped buying season passes and visiting Six Flags for several years because the closest park to me SFA is so ghetto that I won't go back. I have been debating whether we should give it another chance. Was even thinking about going tomorrow, or should I go to Knoebels instead (both are about the same distance from me?)

What do you mean by not maintained? Sfne has a strict policy on all rides being open and your gonna fault them for that pos breaking down because a cable snapped? All parks have rides break down even the great Knoebels, which i was at last month and Phoenix was down for a couple days. I can't speak for other six flags parks because i'm not at them enough to judge their operations. On a side note Sfne never wanted goliath and they desperately want it gone due to high maintenance costs to keep it up but corporate makes the decisions.

Here's an updated article on what happened.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/07/state_says_six_flags...er_co.html

^^ Gamerguy I am just saying my observation on Six Flags in general. The way queues are maintained is(in my mind, ) an immediate red flag that corners are cut. Let's face it I can'tell be the only one that recognizes that. First impressions are everything.

Wicked Cyclone's queue was nice but that's because it's newer. Go to Superman or Batman and they look not as well maintained. When I go to Hersheypark, sea world parks, disney, universal, or cedar fair the queues there don't give me that impression.

gamerguy said:

Here's an updated article on what happened.

Wait, you mean it was a non-event? What a shocker.

I think the Earth is flat, where's my news article?