Jackdude101 Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 Are there only certain types of hills on roller coasters that generate airtime or do they all create airtime goodness? Can you tell if they will generate airtime just by looking at them in a photo?
_IntaMAN_ Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 Sometimes, In my opinion at least. For example, it's like looking at that coaster you're about to get on with hills that look like they'll deliver, but once you're on, you go "WTF" and it's the type of hill that dissapoints in delivering airtime.
KingRCT3 Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 Can you tell if they will generate airtime just by looking at them in a photo? Yes. In a more serious note (El Toro is quite an extreme case! ), it really depends of the ride. There are different kind of hill (bunny hop, camel back, top-hat...) and different kind of airtime (floater, ejector...). The speed is also an important factor, as well as the length of the train. A long train will gives you different airtime if you're in front row or in back row, etc etc.
Jackdude101 Posted October 9, 2013 Author Posted October 9, 2013 ^^^DANG! Hope those upstop wheels are securely bolted!
A.J. Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 El Toro's up-stop wheels scream in bloody pain over each of its hills. From this point on, the usual "I might be full of crap" disclaimer: If you sit in the front, you'll get some airtime as the train gets to the tops of hills, because the train's still traveling fast there. If you sit in the back, you'll get some airtime as the train is pulled down hills. This is true for pretty much any roller coaster that has steep hills. Engineers who come up with center lines for coasters like El Toro and Skyrush (which have crazy airtime) have to consider how fast a train is going, how long a train is, the radius of the airtime hill, friction, and a whole mess of other things. Basically, all hills have even a sliver of airtime based on where you sit in a train, but ejector-airtime hills like the ones on El Toro have to be intentionally designed that way.
cmullin Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 ^^^ Don't show that to any GP, all the sudden El Toro is now unsafe. But dang that's crazy, did they have any idea that the wheels were going to be like that when they designed it you think?
coasterbill Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 El Toro's up-stop wheels scream in bloody pain over each of its hills. Not to sound like a nerd, but I love that sound. It actually reminds me of the weird sound RCT2 makes when you have racing wood coasters doing the exact same thing at the same time.
KingRCT3 Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 ^^ Of course they knew the wheels were going to lift up like that (though we're speaking of Intamin right now! ). They do tons and tons of computer calculus, so they precisely know what are the g forces in every portion of the ride. By the way, do you know what is the main software used to design coasters? Excel!! I learned it from Chad Miller, a lead designer at The Gravity Group. I was so surprised! But that proves it's a very powerful and versatile software.
UrbanLegend Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 By the way, do you know what is the main software used to design coasters? Excel!! Wait... how. Can you... model things in Excel? I can't imagine how it could be used to design coasters. Maybe analyze data from another program' model. But certainly not make it. Unless this is a troll.
KingRCT3 Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 They use other programs for visualizations purposes, such as AutoCAD, but most of the calculus (=design or engineering, whatever you call it) is done with Excel.
rcjp Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 Can you tell if they will generate airtime just by looking at them in a photo? If you have a picture of an airtime hill (and nothing more) it is very tricky to predict if it will generate airtime or not. You can obviously take a rough guess but to actually tell if it creates airtime or not you have to know how fast the train will travel through the hill. So if you have a video it is much easier, also, if in the picture you can see that there is a big difference in terms of height between the airtime hill and the previous element you can predict that there will be plenty of speed through the hill. If you had an airtime hill which had a beyond vertical entry or exit (which I've never seen) you could say without a doubt that there would be airtime. Usually when I see a POV I can tell if it will generate airtime or not although it might, sometimes, be hard to tell if there is just near weightlessness or light negative Gs. (when there is ejector air it is naturally easy to tell)
Wes Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 They use other programs for visualizations purposes, such as AutoCAD, but most of the calculus (=design or engineering, whatever you call it) is done with Excel. You mean they don't use RCT?
DougMJr Posted October 9, 2013 Posted October 9, 2013 It really depends on one's definition of airtime. A train cresting over a hill at a reasonable speed will produce negative vertical g-forces. In some cases the amount of negative g-forces is negligible and the rider hardly feels it. In some cases there is enough force to make your body feel lighter as if it is floating (floater air). Finally, sometimes there is enough force to make the rider feel as if he/she were being ejected (ejector air). The threshold of negative vertical g-force necessary to qualify as "airtime" is pretty subjective. So I guess the answer is... maybe? In regards to being able to tell weather a hill will have airtime in photos, it depends. If one can estimate the speed at which the train will be traveling I think it is safe to assume that seasoned riders can "get an idea" of how much airtime there will be.
alpengeist04 Posted October 10, 2013 Posted October 10, 2013 Can you tell if they will generate airtime just by looking at them in a photo? Look at the hair, it never lies.
cmullin Posted October 10, 2013 Posted October 10, 2013 Can you tell if they will generate airtime just by looking at them in a photo? Look at the hair, it never lies. Quoted for truth!
dropzonefan Posted October 10, 2013 Posted October 10, 2013 Can you tell if they will generate airtime just by looking at them in a photo? Yes. In a more serious note (El Toro is quite an extreme case! ), it really depends of the ride. There are different kind of hill (bunny hop, camel back, top-hat...) and different kind of airtime (floater, ejector...). The speed is also an important factor, as well as the length of the train. A long train will gives you different airtime if you're in front row or in back row, etc etc. Absolutely nuts!... looks like something out of that thrillville game for playstation!. Didn't know El Toro was capeable of that.
A.J. Posted October 10, 2013 Posted October 10, 2013 You mean they don't use RCT? I think some Chinese parks use it. How else would you come up with stuff like that Looping Toboggan thingie?
Jackdude101 Posted October 10, 2013 Author Posted October 10, 2013 Looping Toboggan thingie Hmmm? In which park is that located?
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