A suspended roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster in which the car hangs from the bottom of the rolling stock by a pivoting fulcrum or hinge assembly. This allows the car and riders to swing side to side as the train races along the track. Due to the swing designs, these roller coasters cannot invert riders.

History One of the earliest suspended roller coasters was known as Bisby's Spiral Airship, built in Long Beach, California in the early 1900s. Riders on Bisby's Spiral Airship rode in square gondolas suspended from the track above, which were then carried via lift hill to the top of a tower. The gondolas then rolled down the track, which spiraled down the tower back to the loading platform. The attraction operated at least until the mid-1910s.

In 1975, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt debuted Alpenflug at the annual Oktoberfest fair in Munich, Germany. Featuring multi-car trains and a 2700-foot twisting, spiraling layout, Alpenflug was a hit during the 16-day fair. However, the design was scrapped after analysis revealed significant stress in the track, whose curves were not banked, and in the wheel assemblies, as the train's brake fins were located at the bottom of the train's gondolas instead of near the track itself.

The first permanent modern suspended roller coaster was The Bat at Kings Island. Built by Arrow Development, The Bat opened April 21, 1981, but it was soon plagued with problems. The problems included: excessive stress on the support springs due to the unbanked curved track sections and stress on the wheels because the brakes were mounted at bottom of the swinging cars. Kings Island's US$3.8 million ride closed in 1983 and was later scheduled for demolition. The Bat's former site was occupied by the Arrow designed looping coaster Vortex until its demolition in 2019. The suspended coaster would return to Kings Island in 1993 with the addition of Top Gun, which after a period of being called Flight Deck, was renamed The Bat in 2014, a reference to the original 1981 coaster.

Arrow-Huss refined its suspended roller coaster designs, culminating in the debut of The Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and XLR-8 at Six Flags Astroworld in 1984. After 1984, as Arrow Dynamics, they manufactured ten suspended roller coasters, including Iron Dragon at Cedar Point, Ninja at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures, and Vortex at Canada's Wonderland.

Other manufacturers have also constructed their variations on the suspended roller coaster. Before contacting Arrow-Huss for The Big Bad Wolf, Busch Gardens contacted Anton Schwarzkopf to design a suspended coaster, dubbed the "Flugbahn". However, Schwarzkopf went bankrupt, completing only a model and the footers of the actual coaster.Flying Coaster at Schwarzkopf Coaster Net Dutch designer Vekoma manufactured a suspended model dubbed "Swinging Turns," of which three copies were constructed. Vekoma offers both Arrow-style traditional car designs as well as floorless cars where the riders' feet dangle, similar to Vekoma's inverted coasters but the cars are able to swing. In 2001, Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures was modified to use Vekoma's floorless trains. Caripro, another designer based in The Netherlands, manufactured twelve suspended roller coasters and American designer Setpoint manufactured four.

Installations

+ Incomplete list of suspended roller coaster installations Name Park Manufacturer Open Status Aerial Glide Shipley Glen Pleasure Grounds 1900s Bisby's Spiral Airship Queens Park 1910 Aerial Coaster Riverview Park Aerial Tramway Construction Co. 1908 Wolkenkrabber travelling (Eindhoven) Keluto N.V. 1949 Alpenflug Oktoberfest (Munich) Messerschmitt 1975 The Bat Kings Island Arrow Development 1981 Big Bad Wolf Busch Gardens Williamsburg Arrow Huss 1984 XLR-8 Six Flags AstroWorld Arrow Huss 1984 Iron Dragon Cedar Point Arrow Dynamics 1987 Dream Catcher Bobbejaanland Vekoma 1987 Ninja Six Flags Magic Mountain Arrow Dynamics 1988 Vampire* Chessington World of Adventures Arrow Dynamics 1990 Vortex Canada's Wonderland Arrow Dynamics 1991 Eagle Fortress Everland Arrow Dynamics 1992 Hayabusa Tokyo SummerLand Arrow Dynamics 1992 The Bat Kings Island Arrow Dynamics 1993 Sky CoasterFormerly Centrifuge Dream WorldWorld Expo Park Vekoma 19941988 Batflyer Lightwater Valley Caripro 1996 Batflyer** Duinrell Caripro 1997 Scooby's Ghoster Coaster Kings Island Caripro 1998 Clone Zone Milky Way Caripro 1997 Pteranodon Flyers Islands of Adventure Caripro/Setpoint 1999 Flying Super Saturator Carowinds Setpoint 2000 Spellbreaker Legoland California Caripro 2000 Hydra Fighter II Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe Caripro 2001 Boramae Coaser Wonder Zone R&C Entertainment 2001 Sky Rider Skyline Park Caripro 2001 Batflyer Nasu Highland Park Caripro 2001 Roller Soaker Hersheypark Setpoint 2002 Aeroplanes Aerocity Parc Big Country Motioneering 2003 Batflyer World In Miniature Caripro 2003 Unknown Dreamland Park 2006 Vertigo Walibi Belgium Input 2007 Padrinos Voladores Parque de Atracciones de Madrid Zamperla 2007 Slippery When Wet Hard Rock Park Caripro 2008 Canopy Flyer Universal Studios Singapore Setpoint 2010 Zooom! Flamingo Land Resort Zamperla 2011 Çelik Kartal** Wonderland Eurasia Zamperla 2019 Télégraphe Méga Parc Extreme Engineering 2019 Bat GliderFormerly Batflyer Trans Studio CibuburHamanako Pal Pal Caripro 20192001-2015 Bat GliderFormerly Vleermuis Trans Studio BaliPlopsaland De Panne Caripro 20192000-2018 Eagle Wingspan VinWonders Phú Quốc Extreme Engineering 2020 Hummel Brummel Schwaben Park Wiegand 2020 Fly With Flap Doha Quest Extreme Engineering 2021 Samba Gliders Genting SkyWorlds Setpoint 2022 * Operates with Vekoma trains ** Never operated

See also Suspension railway, a similar design used in public transport applications

References

External links

Setpoint's Official Website Vekoma's Official Website