Flying roller coaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A flying roller coaster is a roller coaster where the riders are secured in flying position with the track overhead. The flying roller coaster is a relatively new concept. The world's first flying roller coaster was in Manchester, United Kingdom Skytrak at Granada Studios in 1997. Skytrak was short lived, but nevertheless the world's first flying roller coaster.
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[edit] Bolliger & Mabillard
In a Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) Flying Coaster model, the passenger takes a sitting position with their legs dangling in a similar fashion to B&M's inverted roller coaster. The coaster then tilts them forward, placing passengers in a flying position for the duration of the ride. Leg clamps insure that the rider will be comfortable for the entire ride. The first flying coaster was Air, which opened in 2002 at Alton Towers. B&M's flying coaster is said to be more comfortable and features an intense Pretzel Loop element, which debuted in 2002, the same year as Air's opening - on Superman: Ultimate Flight at Six Flags Over Georgia. In 2006, B&M manufactured the tallest, fastest and longest flying roller coaster to date, Tatsu, at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Minimum rider height requirement is usually 54 inches tall or more.
[edit] Vekoma
Vekoma's 'Flying Dutchman' model came in two slightly different forms, the $17 million dollar prototype and a longer modified version of the prototype. The first Vekoma flying coaster was Stealth at Great America in Santa Clara, California (since relocated to Carowinds on the NC/SC state line under the name Nighthawk.) Firehawk, formerly located at Geauga Lake under the name X-Flight, is another Flying Dutchman coaster. Riders load the trains in an upright, sitting, position, but at the time of departure the trains are lowered into a backward lying position. The train then departs the station and is hauled up the lift chain with the passengers facing skywards. At the top of the lift hill, the track rotates a half twist to flip the riders into the flying position for the rest of the ride.
The minimum rider height requirement is usually 54 inches tall or more.
[edit] Zamperla
Zamperla's flying model is 'Volare' (Italian for To Fly). Riders lie down in the cars, which hang from an upper rail at a 45 degree angle. The car is then lifted up into a flying position while holding the riders inside. This model is very compact and cheap (estimated to be 6 million USD) and comes with a unique spiral lift hill in which a tall spinning column with 2 vertical poles connected to it which push the cars up the spiral track. But riders have complained that it was quite uncomfortable as there is a lack of harnesses on the cars. The minimum rider height requirement is 50 inches tall or more. There are six installations (as of 2007) of this ride, including the Flying Coaster at Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado.
[edit] Flying coasters
[edit] External links
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