Skycoasters - Question about them.....

[nihtro]

Anybody know the company that makes the Paramount Parks skycoasters? The ones that have the arc and a pole instead of two poles and a pole like the company 'skycoaster' ones?

 

Also, the kind that looks like this? (The left three poles, the right structure is a crane building skyscraper)

 

ADMIN EDIT: Had to edit the topic title to be more descriptive, and actually capitalized the proper words in the sentence. Please spend more than 10 seconds writing and try to create better quality posts! Thanks!

[christianscoasters]

www.sixflags.com/parks/elitchgardens/Rides/xlr8r.html

 

It says "Skyfun I". I've never heard of it. That's just the SFEG one though. Six Flags websites usually tell the manufacturer for all their rides.

 

Another link: http://www.sixflags.com/parks/frontiercity/Rides/geronimo.html

[steel]

Here's a link to the official website. They have some videos and pictures.

http://www.skycoaster.com/home.html

[haiderodes]

Sky Fun 1 is the only maker of the Skycoaster attraction. The style of the structure just varies depending on what the customer is asking for.

 

They actually have a complete training program as well. For each attraction there must be at least one 'Site Controller' who has to go through specialized training to be granted a certification (yearly) to operate the attraction.

[iZak]

The nice thing about being a Site Controller is that you get free rides on any Skycoaster in the world!

 

It's the one certification I wish I had got when I worked at SFMM...

[Bush985]

Yea. being a Skycoaster Site Controller is awesome! I have been one for four years now, and being able to ride any skycoaster is a good bonus. Its nice to know the inside outs of the skycoaster too.

 

Too bad they dont provide much of a thrill anymore.

 

-RD

[iZak]

^ Yeah, it got old after about the 2nd time...

[palavos3]

The only skycoaster really worth the money is the 100 meter high skycoaster is Kissimmee. That one is awesome. Rest are just O.K.

[Double0Kevin]

Yeah, being a Site Controller kinda ruined the ride for me. I've been on them enough times to just not care anymore.

 

Skycoasters are all built by the same company, they have 3 models. Lattice Arch(the kind you see at Paramount parks, CP, SFMM, etc), A-Frame(single flight line, like the Kissimmee skycoaster) and finally the Dual A-Frame(an A frame with 2 flight lines). They also have 2 loading styles, The Rolling Flight Boarding Platform(did i say that right?) and the Scissor Lift(there is a 5ft and 10ft version of these).

 

 

Hope that clears up any questions on Skycoasters.

[Twister II]

Well I have a question for the Site Controller.

 

One morning I was at SFEG, a man (SFEG employee) went up, held there for what seemed like a few minutes, and was reaching above his head, and doing something with the cables. What was that?

[Bush985]

He was probably just screwing around (bad), anyways, each morning you are supposed to do a "First Flight" in which a certified site controller does the first official flight of the day.

 

Sounds like he was porbably playing around with the launch release, as there isn't much else with in reaching distance up there.

 

-RD

[buttonman700]

^The only other thing he might be doing is adjusting the cover for the carabeners. However all that should have been taken care of prior to lifting him up to the launch position.

 

Screwing around on a skycoaster just makes my hair stand on end, too many people have ben seriously hurt screwing off on a skycoaster!

 

(We have the number 3 skycoster in our park nad one of the few portables ever made.)

[Sean Menefee]

Any good horror stories? ^

[Worm]

yeah skycoasters are like really fun and trhilling. Ratanga Junction has one too where you fly over the people above the water!

 

btw, ^^i would like to hear some more ...stories...

[steel]

Buttonman700 - are you sure? I was actually pretty sure that skycoasters are just as safe, if not safer than many roller coasters. I have only heard of one accident (something went wrong with the ripcord itself and the man fell from about halfway up).

[Bush985]

Skycoasters are very, very safe... I'm pretty sure all accidents are due to human error. A few including achohol and drug use. I'll let someone else share the stories though. So yea, don't get the idea that they aren't safe, as most stoires come from just plain stupidity and people fooling around.

[SharkTums]

Yeah, and wasn't the only serious injury on one an employee?

[Bush985]

As far as I know, yes. It was the drug and achohol story.

-RD

[monkeycoaster]

I've been a site controller for two summers, so I have had plenty of time to read through the manual (which you are basically supposed to know by heart for the written exam). At the end of the manual there is a section of safety bulletins, a few of which are about injuries. And yeah, the only serious ones are of employees screwing around before and after park hours. The one's about guests are like "A flyer injured his finger while grabbing the landing pole".

 

In my opinion, Skycoasters are just about the safest things out there. At my site the only "injuries" we have had are the jock type guys who try to impress everyone by landing the flight early (we have the manual landing pole so it's all about the leg muscles baby) and end up falling on their ass.

[buttonman700]

Buttonman700 - are you sure? I was actually pretty sure that skycoasters are just as safe, if not safer than many roller coasters. I have only heard of one accident (something went wrong with the ripcord itself and the man fell from about halfway up).

 

Over the years there have been a couple of inncedents where flight staff have pulled some bone headed stunts. I am not a liberty to discuss.

 

Over all, the skycoaster is the safest ride there is, it's not the GP that gets hurt, it's staff screwing off. Staff on any ride get bored and might look for 'NEW' ways to ride, and then they get hurt.

 

I could go on for hours about park safety sorry, it's what I do during the summer.

[Twister II]

When I was at Lagoon a few summers ago, one of the ops decided to run out to the platform and lay down. Stupid.

 

Question again: The cables on the skycoasters, is there any length they can stretch? Like if some ACEr's decide to come, would they fly lower than a regular person?

[the_rock401]

^ The only way a cable is going to stretch a significant amount if is you load the cables past a tension called the yield tension. Assuming the cable is made out of Grade 35 steel (yield stress of the steel is 35,000 pounds per square inch of cross-section), the cable (I'm assuming 1/2 inch cable) would need to be loaded with 6,877 pounds to get to yield. The carabiners and other portions of the flight suit would fail long before the cable does.

 

Paul "Deformable Body Mechanics" Miller

[Coaster Joe]

Actually, the cable does stretch linearly up until the yield stress. If the material is loaded/unloaded under the yield limit, the cable will return to it's original length. If the material is loaded past it's yield limit, the specimen will have plastic stretching and will not recover all deformations when unloaded.

 

Cables typically have a minimum factor of safety of 8 for these types of applications and has ultimate strength of approx 270,000 pounds per sqin. Two standard 3/8" Skycoaster cables have a combined ultimate capacity approaching 60,000 pounds.