I've been stuck on this ride for about 20 mins as a younger person in the hanging position...they gave us free passes to ride anything we wanted immediately. For some reason young & dumb me chose to ride it again. That pretzel loop is kind of addicting.
To address the duck background, at Superman in the 2017-18 seasons we had this rule that if you worked at Super and came in as a guest on your day off, you had to get a duck from the claw machine in the blue tent. If you didn't, we wouldn't let you ride. Hence why there are a million ducks. We had a photo shoot one morning before opening and after checks and that's the only pictures I had to supply Ryan with for the leg flap release, chassis crank, etc. Duckies Unite!
I hope I don't have to do this when I work as a ride op, because I SUCK at claw machines. I'd probably go "If you click your seatbelts 1000 times, Brainiac will come out of a shed and lift up your train. He lifts up your train and he takes it away; he takes it off the track."
Fun Fact: When I was 7 SF: Great America was my home park and Whizzer was my absolute favorite ride. When I had heard Whizzer was closing I started crying and my mom called Six Flags to tell them not to remove. Glad I could play a part in keeping the Whizzer safe!
My story is kinda similar to yours. I remember when I cried when Six Flags announced that Great Adventure was removing Great American Scream Machine in 2010. I honestly wish they could’ve kept it for a few more years before replacing it with something better than a relocated Stand Up coaster. I wouldn’t say Green Lantern is bad or anything, but I really think Great Adventure didn’t need a Stand Up coaster, and that a Wing or a Dive would’ve been a better replacement for GASM. Hopefully they relocate Green Lantern to Great America and have it converted into a Floorless, because let’s be honest, a B&M Floorless is pretty much another missing key in SFGAm’s coaster lineup at the moment.
Six Flags: “Can we have a rollercoaster that requires some tree felling?” County: “No that’s damaging to the environment” Six Flags: “ Can we have a rollercoaster that is made of hundreds of chopped down trees?” County: “Sounds cool to me”
fyi, it has to do with river bank maintenance, the tree roots keep the banks from eroding. remove too many and you'll be polluting the river with sediment, and have to continually back fill the banks and or dredge to keep the river where it is.
I think the trees used in construction are from managed tree farms that are on a cut and replant cycle. The trees they wanted to cut down for the coaster in the park would damage the natural growth and aesthetic the county (or whatever governing body) wants to keep. Although, you’re right, it does still sound pretty silly.
Current SFGA employee here, loved the video! One interesting thing about Superman that wasn’t mentioned is the gasoline-powered platform that must be used for ride evacuations if a train is stopped on the lift hill during a power outage. The first time I saw that I was absolutely amazed
I had no idea it was gas powered! I’m a Great America guy and I was admiring that rolling platform that can travel up the lift hill like a diagonal elevator
The amount of things the engineers take into account when designing these coasters is impressive (of course not just one person, but the team itself is worth lots of respect). Sure some example to aim for as a student myself.
@@dianauwu1312 I'm now at my last semesters of mechanical engineering, my focus being on general product/machinery project, and I'm currently as a trainee in a company that does just that: a client has an idea, they want it made, we figure out how. It's pretty fun frankly, glad I could find an area that meets my goals!
Fun fact, if you forcefully breath out on the pretzel loop, I've found you're less likely to pass/grey out. It's one of my favorite rides at the park and in general.
I'm a pilot and own a small aerobatic plane in which I often pull +/-6g, controlling your breathing is a good start for fighting g, but if you really want to be able to take lots of g without issues, just do what we do and do the old g strain... Which is basically tense the muscles in your legs and stomach as much as you can. The best way to describe it, if somewhat nasty, is pretend like you're on the toilet and you're straining really hard to squeeze out a poop. Lol. Do that same straining deal as hard as you can without having a blowout and you'll almost never have to worry about g.
damn, B&M literally think of everything. Their backup checks have backup checks. It should be impossible for a train to come into the station in the inverted position, but they still check for it. Btw. can you make a video on Hagrids? That seems to be quite a problematic roller coaster. I know you mostly do coasters that you have operated before, but maybe you can get an insiders perspective from an operator there? Cheers
@@onefastslimjim thing is though, who knows maybe some freak chain of events could cause that and as the rider I don’t care how rare it is I’d like to keep my legs lol.
The B&M Flyer was the first model of coaster I ever rode. I'm autistic and used to be so scared of roller coasters, but the rest of my family loved them. My family and I were at SeaWorld Orlando just after my 13th birthday and convinced me to ride Manta, a Flyer. Having pressure on the vest area of my body is soothing to me, so the Flyer's restraints made me feel safe and being in the flying position right away relaxed me even more. If I weren't on a roller coaster, I probably could've fallen asleep like that. The B&M Flyer is still my favorite model of coaster over 10 years later. I love riding roller coasters, but the Flyer will forever hold a special place in my heart.
As someone who's ridden Superman, and Firehawk, I preferred the Firehawk Style. I like that B&M takes all the safety precautions, but I prefer being on my back going up the hill and waiting to come back into the station, rather than being stuck face down.
@@TonyKimtheamusementparkfan I just make sure to have my fingers on the space bar and back arrow so I can navigate and pause in order to fully understand what is going on. I definitely want to give kudos to the creator for how well they explain the mechanics, even for lay folks like myself.
Tatsu will always have a special place in my heart. I rode it 6 times in a row at the opening employee party. I would have ridden more times, but that pretzel loop did me in.
Love the video and yes this ride is a pain lol, I operated this ride 2 years ago at Over Georgia and let me tell you this ride is very different from any ride that I operated in the park and I operated mainly all the rides in the front and the middle of the park. This ride has so much terminology to learn before getting behind the control panel. I wish we still used the dueling station will aka station 1 but like you said six flags would have to hire more employees for the ride, which we needed 12 attendants for 3 train operations. Yes the restraints on this ride is no joke you really have to pay attention to detail for this ride. But overall it’s a fun ride to operate just a lot you need to learn from just the basic stuff to the harder stuff to learn and know. I wish we could do a video about this ride even more together but maybe one day.
Thank B&M my friend, thank them :D It's no wonder their safety record is so clean. They literally think of everything, down to the minor details of these trains that we don't know about. It must be more of a headache for maintenance to try to replace parts for the ride, and even inspecting those trains.
I wonder what the max throughput would be with three trains. It's probably never been achieved with the slow nature of riders. Does Over Georgia still have it's third train?
I have to look at my notes for the max thoughput of the ride and yes they still have it’s in the storage station. Just need some parts to be back up and running again.
When I tell you this was a wealth in good information. I am currently to big to ride this. I’m working on it a goal of mine. I never would have guessed this ride was so complex. I love all of the built in redundancy safety systems. Again great job. My home park is SFoG and my roller coaster buddies can’t remember other that the opening year when both sides have been in operation.
yea!!! Six flags over Georgia is my home park as well:) I also don’t remember a time where they used both loading stations.. I hope you are doing well gerrick and closer to your goal so you can enjoy one of the best coasters in that park! 💕🤍💕
This has quickly become one of my favorite series regarding theme park attractions! I'm always looking forward to the next video. The mechanical side of these attractions doesn't seem to be talked about much but it's amazing at all the intricacies of each ride.
Dude, you explain everything so well! It seems like every time I go to ride Superman at my home park SFOG it's only running one train, and now I understand why! I had no idea of how complex everything that goes into this ride really was. Keep up the awesome work!
I have been to Happy Valley Beijing multiple times and I can safely bet that Crystal Wing is the best Superman Ultimate Fly Clone in the world, the amount of theming and near misses are insane. Also, great video Ryan! I really learned a lot from this series.
I love watching the mechanism that brings the train to a flying position. I swear, I have never been so satisfied with a train mechanism until I first rode Superman.
Every ride I ever had on this coaster featured snail-paced lines that aggravated me and I'm glad to gain some appreciation for the really remarkable engineering that went into this ride. I love how in-depth you get when talking about the technical elements of running rides!
Funny story: one time i rode superman ultimate flight at over Georgia and the ride was having some error so the train in the station could not unlock the restraints, so when our train finished the course i was on the final brake run and on the last row, the last row does not fit over the concrete below so I was hanging over rocks for about 20 minutes until they manually pulled the train into the other side of the station, similar to what you mentioned at 21:25
@@joeskrtit3061 It sucks dude, it is so uncomfortable getting stuck in the prone position. Ideally the brake run and station should be set up where you recline on your back and run inverted outside of those areas. Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides, but they had a better setup by doing the brakes and station segments "on the ground."
@@sharkheadism "Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides" Actually, that's just Nighthawk, and even then it's mainly just the roughness that hurts it. Batwing is generally considered pretty decent (same with Firehawk when it was still in operation).
As a ride mechanic that maintains one of these B&M Flying Coasters (Manta at Seaworld Orlando) this video is spot on. Definitely a lot to take care of and troubleshooting can be a pain. I can see that there are definite differences between Superman and the newer ones. However, this is an excellent video that covers a lot of content, and nails a lot of the major points. Great Job @eltororyan
Man, I remember the first year they had Superman at Great America. I was at an age where I was still a little iffy about coasters, and I'd never ridden an inverted coaster before. My little sister, on the other hand, was a coaster maniac and barely passed the height restriction for the ride. Because it was new, the wait time was nearly two hours first thing in the morning, but my parents and I stuck with it in the summer heat for my sister who was pleading to go on the ride. When we finally got on the ride, my sister was so excited...until the floor dropped out. Suddenly "I wanna go on the ride!" turned into "IWANNAGETOFFTHERIDE!!!" My parents just laughed because it was definitely too late now, and we were off. My rating at the end: not as intense as it might look. Very fun! My sister's rating: THAT WAS AWESOME!!!
From someone (me) with no formal engineering classes I’m utterly amazed at your incredible knowledge! I saw the “gum scraper” and laughed because I actually know how to use those scrapers for construction and walls and I never thought of it like that! 18:29
I like hearing about the leg flaps. I was 13 when I rode Tatsu for the first time and never having ridden a flying coaster before, wasn't aware of the leg flaps so while loading was happening I was just casually swinging my legs as if I were on an inverted coaster. Then I nearly wet my pants when the flaps closed and I realized my right leg wasn't secured. Of course the ride attendant came to fix it but I don't remember it being a big deal and only took a couple seconds to open the flaps and get my foot in place. Maybe it's easier to open when the chassis is down?
That pretzel loop has to be one of the craziest things I’ve ever ridden through. The forces feel like they punch you in the gut and shove you back into your seat, and it’s all so fun!!
That pretzel loop is forking intense! And yeah operations on it aren't as fast as a B&M Hyper or Invert; but WAY faster than a Vekoma Flying Dutchman or Standup coaster!
Man that first inverted loop/pretzel was one of the most fucked up EPIC feelings i have EVER experienced in a roller coaster to this day! Have ridden this Superman at Six Flags Great Adv soooo many times its one of my top 3 probably. Other than the first loop the ride sucks really bad and is over quick, BUT that first inverted loop STILL to this day makes it one of my top ones to ride and have ever ridden. I will NEVER forget first riding this and completely not expecting that feeling of this inverted loop/pretzel. You actually like used to be underground on the bottom of the pretzel/loop while your literally facing the opposite direction while on your back than you were at the top(hard to explain but i know some get it), it was just EPIC. Upon watching some newer pov's videos of this ride i noticed though that they filled in that hole on the bottom? I specifically remember a little fenced in square holed area at the bottom of the first loop. I remember they said it was necessary in order to fit the loop in place bc they "ran out of room", so they needed to dig into the ground a little to fit the bottom section of it. I wonder how they went about making that particular bottom section of track NOT underground anymore? Cause I dont see really any digging that was done, which i would guess is how they would do this (by just excavating/digging out a much broader/wider area so then the track looks Above ground like now). The front and BACK(i prefer) rows both have there reasons for doing but man being dragged through that pretzel in the back for the first time was one of the scariest things i have experienced still to this day. I couldnt breathe(which never happens to me anymore as im mostly used to it all, but this kicked my ass to say the least) and i know some people who have said they blacked out or was very close to it. Front is also just as fun in that it truly gives a much better flying feeling obviously, bc nothing is in front of you(your not looking at the back of peoples feet/sneakers lol). That hill climb(though not very high) in the first row is still something else. You're literally just looking at the ground as you ascend higher and higher with nothing to catch you God forbid, its just you and air straight to the ground, all wide open 😯(check out a pov on it, youllsee). Idk if its just cause my body wasnt expecting it or what, but i thought i was about to die almost my first time riding this(lol exaggerating slightly, but you get it). I think i was front row first time too and the push up from the back cars while coming out of the pretzel is insane too, even that little pull up part right before you dip into that pretzel! If it only had like atleast 3 of these pretzels omg lol. Makes me wanna ride it right now!
I will never forget my first flying coaster. It was Nightwing at Carowinds. I knew it would be a flying coaster as I obviously saw it, but it was such a unique experience that the whole ride, I was laughing my ass off! I rode it in the afternoon after having rode quite a few standard style coaster and by the time I rode Nightwing, I was getting to the point of being ready for something different and it gave me that!
Excellent video as usual! I'm not sure about other B&M coasters, but I know for a fact that Riddler's Revenge, Dueling Dragons, and Hulk used A/B panel view since their installations in 1998/1999. There were panelview style GUI's for various Intamin, Premier, and GCI coasters along that time too.
Haha definitely need to Volcano at least! It was always one of my favorite coasters but definitely had more than its share of problems and was basically a prototype one off as I understand.
More Six Flags Great America coasters would be great to see on this channel!! It’s my local theme park and I’d love to see it represented more on the channel :)
HAVEN'T WATCHED YET BUT THANKKKK YOUUUU! These videos are amazing. I really hope you're getting monetization in some form, or will use these in the future to get a job that allows you to do so. You are exceptionally talented and its so rare to find someone like that. Killin' it, bro.
I look at maxxforce like a more interesting top thrill/kinda ka/red force. Big launch followed by a big uphill but then the fastest inversion ever and I love the vertical break run at the end
Despite finding it fun I have such a phobia of being stuck in position on this ride on the car I won’t ride it ever anymore. Only current ride in too afraid to go on in the world
I live by gurnee and I rode the superman's flight there 16 times in a row to try to break the record. Sadly they closed before we could hit 21 but always fond memories of this ride.
Not only are these videos awesome. The music in the background is chill and it over powering. It’s perfect for narrating. Good job man. You got a gift.
Current SFGA employee here, loved the video! One interesting thing about Superman that wasn’t mentioned is the gasoline-powered platform that must me used for ride evacuations if a train is stopped on the the lift hill during a power outage. The first time I saw that I was absolutely amazed.
6:40 Project rejected due to the number of trees that needed to be taken down. Installed a huge wooden coaster instead. Edit: I noticed the comment below now. Cheers!
@@Mrcaffinebean Oof... somebody doesn't understand the difference between 'we want to maintain the aesthetic of the park' and 'we don't want to use wood'.
@@tim3172 I doubt the “aesthetics“ we’re at issue seeing as they were looking to take down trees within their own park. Not sure why the township would have any say over what a private park does on their private land from an aesthetic standpoint. However townships have been known to intervene on environmental grounds. So just guessing but I bet that’s what the issue was.
I rode Superman: Ultimate Flight for the first time this Tuesday at Six Flags Great Adventure. I never knew that the train had to be so complicated simply to allow the ride to operate in a different position! Such an interesting ride, I really enjoyed this video!
Great video! The Superman at Over Georgia has amazing terrain to go with the ride. Unfortunately, it’s broken almost as much time a day that it is running. I don’t even try to go on it anymore ever since I was stuck hanging out on it for 30 minutes because the other train had an issue and they no longer use the dual station. Also, it’s broken while I’ve been in line at least 5 times over the past 10 years. Fun but holy crap it’s annoying between the breaking issues and the constant hour+ wait for a one trick pony ride.
@@felishiahendra it's gonna open, there only letting a certain amount of people in the park at a time, and you are going to have to make a reservation before you go....check the website and look on instagram!
I’m late to this but I’ve worked in the amusement industry for over 10 years now. I just wanted to say that the portion of the video where you mention the wireless communication to the trains from the operators console, that’s not how that function works. The part you circled on the train is indeed a COM, but a COM is not wireless in the sense that it uses radio frequencies. Those are not antennas on the COM, they are copper coils, or brushes as some would call them. When the train enters the parked position in the station, the coils make contact with a copper plate fixed in the station hardware, allowing for communication. This is why the functions only work when the train is parked. Many rides use this type of communication wiring in many different ways. Just thought I’d fill you in a little!
Brilliant work. My home park is Alton towers and I've always wondered how the restraints work and how the train is put into the flying position on Galactica 😎
“..For any of those who have watched the entire video, congratulations” What kind of monster DOESN’T watch problematic rollercoasters to the very end. Smh
Amazing video! I have just one more fun fact. As someone who has operated the Superman UF clone at great america, at least for that park, there are two abnormalities. Rows 1 and 7 are for some reason much weaker than the other rows. If there is too much weight on either of those rows, when you go to dispatch, the chasis will swing up, but it won’t be able to fully raise the train, and it will stop. You then have to say hands off, and press the CHASIS DOWN button, and that will put it back into the load/unload position. You either try again, or you can tell pretty easily which row it is. You then have to unlock either rows 1&2 or 7&8 and ask the two groups to switch, or if they don’t want to, you split the group in half. It’s a real pain in the ass and it destroys capacity.
Superman at Great Adventure had a similar issue the season that I operated it! For us it was row 6- but they eventually fixed it after taking the train off for about a week. Worst issue EVER for the guests waiting on the transfer track lmao
Suggestion for a future episode: Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs (Deja Vu / Aftershock / Goliath) . Sounds like those have had their fair share of problems.
Poor deja vu had a rough rough life. Shockwave did too. I think that’s what was was there before super man , ultimate flight? It’s hard to remember nowadays. I’m old now. Iron wolf as well. But what a blast 🤣
I focus primarily on trains and railroad photography but I also have a strong interest in roller coasters and spent my childhood growing up going to Six Flags Magic Mountain as I grew up in Santa Clarita, CA where Valencia and SFMM are located. I've ridden Tatsu many, many times which operates identically to Superman so naturally I took special interest in this video. I've found all your problematic coaster videos fascinating and hope you continue doing more in this series. As a suggestion, two video ideas could be X2 and Riddlers Revenge, both located at Magic Mountain. Having ridden both of these many times as well, they both are complicated and problematic being a stand-up coaster and X2 having its twisting seats and other electronics. X2 spends more time down than it does running and Riddlers often runs with one train only. Anyways, fascinating channel. Way more detailed than the other ones. I subscribed.
As a SFGA Gurnee fan, (since it’s in my area) the Superman Ultimate Flight ride there is honestly one of my favorites. The Whizzer is also a favorite of many of the younger audience at my six flags.
Flying coasters are some of the most unique coaster models around if you ask me. I haven't been on any of the Superman clones yet but I have ridden Manta at SeaWorld Orlando and that pretzel loop has to be felt to be believed. And hey, nice BatWing footage! I'm really liking this series so far.
Wow! Thank you for that. I really had no idea of the intricacies of how a modern rollercoaster is designed and operates. So many redundancies and safety sub-systems are built into the system. It answers some questions I have always had about why there are these certain annoying traits that have always bothered me on so many coasters; things like break zones at the top of hills, certain slow speeds on the lift hill, and even (although I realize it was not a subject you covered but, there was something you said that answered this question anyway) why steel coasters, coasters that theoretically should be smooth rides considering that the trains run on smooth, tubular, steel tracks, are often so rough: those tracks and the superstructures they are built on are not stiff enough, they shake and vibrate. Steel box beam coasters are much smoother because those steel box beams are much more rigid, something you mentioned in passing in your video.
My home park is SFGM. Since I consider myself a loose enthusiast, I often talk (don’t shut up) about SFGM. Whoever I talk about Superman: Ultimate Flight, someone always WITHOUT FAIL tells a story about how they were stuck in the flying position for anywhere from 20 minutes to upwards of an hour.
23:10 Please never ever be impressed by lines of code. In production environments it is almost always a useless metric. In this particular case, 80K lines of code my be a lot or practically nothing simply based on the language used to write that software. I suspect the latter as it almost certainly written in Java, which is known for verbosity and code bloat in even semi-complex systems. A better metric would be amount of data being sent for diagnostic purposes. However, since there's not much to compare to, even that is fairly useless. TL;DR - color me unimpressed regarding the "80K lines of code".
I don't mean for this question to sound rude, but do you really think they would use Java as the language of choice for efficient machinery equipment, let alone a roller coaster responsible for human life? Most rides use programmable logic/automation controllers made by Rockwell, Siemens, etc. The programming language for those systems is usually a graphical logic language like RLL (relay ladder logic) or FBD (function block diagram). Some programming is done in text based languages, but languages of choice would be highly efficient, low level languages like C#, C, or even possibly Assembly (depending on the application). And trust me, coming from someone who has written in low level languages before, 80k lines of that crap with no overhead or dependencies sounds like hell, lol. Source: www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/4vn6bf/every_rollercoaster_has_a_computer_who_makes_and/
@@RehlmProductions You'd be surprised. Java is used in a ton of places you wouldn't expect, even stuff like control systems on military ships. And to be honest if it's not a system that needs sub-millisecond realtime precision or is extremely memory constrained (meaning it can't tolerate a garbage collected language/runtime) I'd rather have something written in a managed language like Java or C# or whatever rather than C or C++ where I'd have to worry about random memory errors (use after free, data races, all that fun stuff) that the programmers missed. C# is really about as efficient and no more "low level" than Java, it's also a language compiled to intermediate code and then JIT'ed with a garbage collected runtime. 80k LOC for this thing means to me it's probably lots of spaghetti accumulated over long development time with changing requirements.
Why can’t all rollercoaster systems be as simple as arrow coasters, seriously, arrow corkscrew coasters never ever break down, they last for ever, they can run in the rain, they can run with tons of trains and block breaks and they never have errors. Definitely the most reliable coaster type ever and safest if you ignore roughness.
As a former ride operator of Air at Alton Towers for many seasons your video hits all the points. Very good video. I did have videos of both operating Air and working as the Station Op (attendant at the rear of each station who operates the harness latch, lock and unlock buttons). In the videos I explained the ride start sequence but unfortunately I can no longer find these videos, and AT would most likely not be very happy with it being shared. In terms of staffing for two station, three craft operations we would typically run with two ride ops, two station ops and four platform hosts. This makes one op, one station op and two hosts for each station. Then we would need three-four additional staff to provide breaks for the hosts and ops. Plus we would have a minimum of one host in the queue and one at the entrance. As you can see running a B&M flying coaster is pretty costly in terms of labour alone, without even considering the maintenance costs. Oh and yes, the trains (crafts) are very heavy, typically two metric tonnes per car, so 14t for a seven car craft. Believe me, I have actually been involved in pushing a craft along the brakes/waiting areas with the friction brakes blown. These are very complicated rides with plenty of cause for downtime. For us at AT, it was usually moving floor errors or spiders spinning webs over photo eyes at the top of the lift, on the Hersh bar or on the communication links.
When you see a B&M coaster appear in the Problematic Roller Coaster series
“Wait, that’s illegal”
fr lmao
Us: B&M since when did you make these problematic coasters?
B&M: Yes
Let's go back to problematic intamins? Yeah
@Rocco Cafagna the amount of technology this thing has sounds like something Intamin would do
Us: I know that B&M did not just made problematic coasters
B&M: Yeah we just wanted to be in the problematic series
I've been stuck on this ride for about 20 mins as a younger person in the hanging position...they gave us free passes to ride anything we wanted immediately. For some reason young & dumb me chose to ride it again. That pretzel loop is kind of addicting.
I did the same lmao
I remember riding it on opening day, and hearing a boy round like 10 years old saying "Farewell, Krypton" like Brainiac in Superman TAS.
@Fahrenheit097lol
I've never been on a flying coaster before, but I can FEEL the Pretzel loops when watching POVs
To address the duck background, at Superman in the 2017-18 seasons we had this rule that if you worked at Super and came in as a guest on your day off, you had to get a duck from the claw machine in the blue tent. If you didn't, we wouldn't let you ride. Hence why there are a million ducks. We had a photo shoot one morning before opening and after checks and that's the only pictures I had to supply Ryan with for the leg flap release, chassis crank, etc. Duckies Unite!
ohhh lmfaooo I was so confused why there were little rubber duck on the seats🤣
I came to the comments for answers and im really glad this is here
I hope I don't have to do this when I work as a ride op, because I SUCK at claw machines. I'd probably go "If you click your seatbelts 1000 times, Brainiac will come out of a shed and lift up your train. He lifts up your train and he takes it away; he takes it off the track."
Why do they had to get a rubber duck on there day off.
@@Jolei33 a real one would likely not sit still long enough
Fun Fact: When I was 7 SF: Great America was my home park and Whizzer was my absolute favorite ride. When I had heard Whizzer was closing I started crying and my mom called Six Flags to tell them not to remove. Glad I could play a part in keeping the Whizzer safe!
The whizzer is everyone's first coaster, it was always a right of passage.
My story is kinda similar to yours. I remember when I cried when Six Flags announced that Great Adventure was removing Great American Scream Machine in 2010.
I honestly wish they could’ve kept it for a few more years before replacing it with something better than a relocated Stand Up coaster. I wouldn’t say Green Lantern is bad or anything, but I really think Great Adventure didn’t need a Stand Up coaster, and that a Wing or a Dive would’ve been a better replacement for GASM.
Hopefully they relocate Green Lantern to Great America and have it converted into a Floorless, because let’s be honest, a B&M Floorless is pretty much another missing key in SFGAm’s coaster lineup at the moment.
Always start or end my day with the Whizzer. It’s tradition!
@@enencycruz6948 Demon was mine. Still my favorite.
God, I love the whizzer, that park is so fun. I just went on October I
1st for fright fest
Six Flags: “Can we have a rollercoaster that requires some tree felling?”
County: “No that’s damaging to the environment”
Six Flags: “ Can we have a rollercoaster that is made of hundreds of chopped down trees?”
County: “Sounds cool to me”
I think the NJ Gov. Was actually stalling till they got El Toro😂
As long as the wood isn't from New Jersey who cares we arnt the problem :p. Probaly the actual quote from the mayor/governor.
Lol not their trees though haha
fyi, it has to do with river bank maintenance, the tree roots keep the banks from eroding. remove too many and you'll be polluting the river with sediment, and have to continually back fill the banks and or dredge to keep the river where it is.
I think the trees used in construction are from managed tree farms that are on a cut and replant cycle. The trees they wanted to cut down for the coaster in the park would damage the natural growth and aesthetic the county (or whatever governing body) wants to keep. Although, you’re right, it does still sound pretty silly.
Current SFGA employee here, loved the video! One interesting thing about Superman that wasn’t mentioned is the gasoline-powered platform that must be used for ride evacuations if a train is stopped on the lift hill during a power outage. The first time I saw that I was absolutely amazed
I bet that is an odd sight to see.
@@horseshoe_nc And an odd one to hear! That thing is loud! Can be quite frightening for trapped guests unfortunately
When i use to work Medusa i had to haul a forty pound false metal floor to evac.
I had no idea it was gas powered! I’m a Great America guy and I was admiring that rolling platform that can travel up the lift hill like a diagonal elevator
I used to Operate Superman and that gas slider platform is always cool to see when maintenance tests it up the hill!
The amount of things the engineers take into account when designing these coasters is impressive (of course not just one person, but the team itself is worth lots of respect). Sure some example to aim for as a student myself.
Hey, I don't know if you've graduated yet, but if not, good luck on your studies! If you have, congrats!
@@o5-7firefox Thank you! Not yet, but close to it! The pandemic has been really helpful in being productive in my case.
@@Kalvinjj Well, congrats in advance! :)
That's a good goal to aim for as an engineer. What sort of engineering are you studying?
@@dianauwu1312 I'm now at my last semesters of mechanical engineering, my focus being on general product/machinery project, and I'm currently as a trainee in a company that does just that: a client has an idea, they want it made, we figure out how. It's pretty fun frankly, glad I could find an area that meets my goals!
I literally just finished Grade 11 physics before watching this and it still gave me a headache. good job.
Lessardo same, my teacher took us to BGT and I thought falcons fury system was bad!
@@anthonyc380 ?
In the middle of taking Grade 11 physics and I commend those who understand it.
Just you wait until you get to college level physics
You forgot “video” between “this” and “and”
Fun fact, if you forcefully breath out on the pretzel loop, I've found you're less likely to pass/grey out.
It's one of my favorite rides at the park and in general.
I'm a pilot and own a small aerobatic plane in which I often pull +/-6g, controlling your breathing is a good start for fighting g, but if you really want to be able to take lots of g without issues, just do what we do and do the old g strain... Which is basically tense the muscles in your legs and stomach as much as you can. The best way to describe it, if somewhat nasty, is pretend like you're on the toilet and you're straining really hard to squeeze out a poop. Lol. Do that same straining deal as hard as you can without having a blowout and you'll almost never have to worry about g.
The pretzel loop is actually very relaxing. I've never greyed out on it.
@@YuukiTakemoto1996 That means you are in the group of humans with high g tolerance, go take advantage of it ;)
@@Hackerhunter15 i think I have that shit too because my friends always complained about that loop but it never bothered me
@@blackhawks81H lol, this is exactly what I do Superman @SFGA.
damn, B&M literally think of everything. Their backup checks have backup checks. It should be impossible for a train to come into the station in the inverted position, but they still check for it. Btw. can you make a video on Hagrids? That seems to be quite a problematic roller coaster. I know you mostly do coasters that you have operated before, but maybe you can get an insiders perspective from an operator there? Cheers
His video on hagrids was cool
See, B&M is the best.
The train shouldn't become sentient and suddenly unlock the restraints midride, but to hell with it might as well check for it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@onefastslimjim thing is though, who knows maybe some freak chain of events could cause that and as the rider I don’t care how rare it is I’d like to keep my legs lol.
@@sethk1429 B&M is smart and obviously only employs engineers with extreme levels of anxiety. Best business decision ever.
I just realized, if the Superman had been built on the Etoro plot of land, this channel would’ve probably never existed 🤯
The B&M Flyer was the first model of coaster I ever rode. I'm autistic and used to be so scared of roller coasters, but the rest of my family loved them. My family and I were at SeaWorld Orlando just after my 13th birthday and convinced me to ride Manta, a Flyer. Having pressure on the vest area of my body is soothing to me, so the Flyer's restraints made me feel safe and being in the flying position right away relaxed me even more. If I weren't on a roller coaster, I probably could've fallen asleep like that.
The B&M Flyer is still my favorite model of coaster over 10 years later. I love riding roller coasters, but the Flyer will forever hold a special place in my heart.
That is awesome! Yeah I understand that comfort feeling. Way awesome memories
That's awesome! I don't like the headbanging some coasters give me, Manta solved those issues for me.
As someone who's ridden Superman, and Firehawk, I preferred the Firehawk Style. I like that B&M takes all the safety precautions, but I prefer being on my back going up the hill and waiting to come back into the station, rather than being stuck face down.
I didn’t have the brain capacity for the part where you explained the trains
Also do one on lightning rod
That would be AWESOME
This is a video I need to watch like 10 times to understand xD But it's so cool regardless~ No wonder B&Ms are always safe
@@TonyKimtheamusementparkfan I just make sure to have my fingers on the space bar and back arrow so I can navigate and pause in order to fully understand what is going on. I definitely want to give kudos to the creator for how well they explain the mechanics, even for lay folks like myself.
It went over my head
Chimera you have to do that???
Tatsu will always have a special place in my heart. I rode it 6 times in a row at the opening employee party. I would have ridden more times, but that pretzel loop did me in.
Love the video and yes this ride is a pain lol, I operated this ride 2 years ago at Over Georgia and let me tell you this ride is very different from any ride that I operated in the park and I operated mainly all the rides in the front and the middle of the park. This ride has so much terminology to learn before getting behind the control panel. I wish we still used the dueling station will aka station 1 but like you said six flags would have to hire more employees for the ride, which we needed 12 attendants for 3 train operations. Yes the restraints on this ride is no joke you really have to pay attention to detail for this ride. But overall it’s a fun ride to operate just a lot you need to learn from just the basic stuff to the harder stuff to learn and know. I wish we could do a video about this ride even more together but maybe one day.
Thank B&M my friend, thank them :D It's no wonder their safety record is so clean. They literally think of everything, down to the minor details of these trains that we don't know about. It must be more of a headache for maintenance to try to replace parts for the ride, and even inspecting those trains.
Yeah it was they had to do block checks every morning like maintenance would get there at 5 in the morning Superman is a very complex ride
I wonder what the max throughput would be with three trains. It's probably never been achieved with the slow nature of riders.
Does Over Georgia still have it's third train?
I have to look at my notes for the max thoughput of the ride and yes they still have it’s in the storage station. Just need some parts to be back up and running again.
That’s so cool how u can now split the video up in different portions
Most liked comment lol.
You have been able to time stamp for a long time 15:00
Tie Dough oh shit didn’t even realize that 😂
Havent you been able to do that since like 2015?
@@SpencEpix yeah, but now the red progress bar when watching videos is split and tells you the segment description next to the timestamp
Okay NOW I know why roller coaster trains are so expensive. It’s insane how advanced they are.
When I tell you this was a wealth in good information. I am currently to big to ride this. I’m working on it a goal of mine. I never would have guessed this ride was so complex. I love all of the built in redundancy safety systems. Again great job. My home park is SFoG and my roller coaster buddies can’t remember other that the opening year when both sides have been in operation.
The goal to ride badass rollercoasters has to be one of the best motivators for weight loss I've ever heard. Hope it's going well, cheers!
yea!!! Six flags over Georgia is my home park as well:) I also don’t remember a time where they used both loading stations.. I hope you are doing well gerrick and closer to your goal so you can enjoy one of the best coasters in that park! 💕🤍💕
These are just such photogenic coasters, with the way they glide around the track to their beautiful colors! (great video as always too.)
The pretzel loops on these coasters, in the back row, is one of the most intense elements I've experienced, with a large amount of positive g-forces.
I just wish they could’ve built a coaster that has more than just one cool element followed by slowly winding around for a bit
It is great TBH
To this day I stand by the fact Back row on a Flyer’s pretzel loop is the scariest element in a coaster 😂
Pretzel loops feel like a torture device to me. Incredibly forceful but not super thrilling
lord manshaft Air (now known as Galactica) at Alton Towers doesn’t feature a pretzel loop, but it does feature a unique layout that’s pretty fun 😊
LukeE94 FACTS
I was riding Tatsu in either the back or second to back row and I swear I think one of the people in my row crapped himself in the pretzel knot
LukeE94 my first ride on Tatsu introduced me to this element and when it showed its face and I realized our course.....
This has quickly become one of my favorite series regarding theme park attractions! I'm always looking forward to the next video. The mechanical side of these attractions doesn't seem to be talked about much but it's amazing at all the intricacies of each ride.
I would have never taught that a B&M would make it in this series!
First time he teased them, I was like "B&M made a problematic coaster? Is that even in their vocabulary?"
Dude, you explain everything so well! It seems like every time I go to ride Superman at my home park SFOG it's only running one train, and now I understand why! I had no idea of how complex everything that goes into this ride really was. Keep up the awesome work!
33 min of my life well spent
I love how you can easily tell which one is the great adventure model based on the paint job haha
They repainted it
Now I need ah problematic of LROD
I have been to Happy Valley Beijing multiple times and I can safely bet that Crystal Wing is the best Superman Ultimate Fly Clone in the world, the amount of theming and near misses are insane.
Also, great video Ryan! I really learned a lot from this series.
Yo Mulin
Hey
But the US ones have Brainiac in the queue, with that _sexy_ dom outfit... if only he didn't look like The Leader on crack...
I love watching the mechanism that brings the train to a flying position. I swear, I have never been so satisfied with a train mechanism until I first rode Superman.
Every ride I ever had on this coaster featured snail-paced lines that aggravated me and I'm glad to gain some appreciation for the really remarkable engineering that went into this ride. I love how in-depth you get when talking about the technical elements of running rides!
Funny story: one time i rode superman ultimate flight at over Georgia and the ride was having some error so the train in the station could not unlock the restraints, so when our train finished the course i was on the final brake run and on the last row, the last row does not fit over the concrete below so I was hanging over rocks for about 20 minutes until they manually pulled the train into the other side of the station, similar to what you mentioned at 21:25
That would be kinda fun
@@joeskrtit3061 It sucks dude, it is so uncomfortable getting stuck in the prone position. Ideally the brake run and station should be set up where you recline on your back and run inverted outside of those areas. Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides, but they had a better setup by doing the brakes and station segments "on the ground."
@@sharkheadism
"Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides"
Actually, that's just Nighthawk, and even then it's mainly just the roughness that hurts it. Batwing is generally considered pretty decent (same with Firehawk when it was still in operation).
That happened to me the first time I rode Tatsu. We got stuck for like 15 minutes on the break run and then they had to manually open the restraints.
same thing happended to me on superman in NJ a few years ago that wasnt fun facing the ground for 30 mintues
As a ride mechanic that maintains one of these B&M Flying Coasters (Manta at Seaworld Orlando) this video is spot on. Definitely a lot to take care of and troubleshooting can be a pain. I can see that there are definite differences between Superman and the newer ones. However, this is an excellent video that covers a lot of content, and nails a lot of the major points. Great Job @eltororyan
Man, I remember the first year they had Superman at Great America. I was at an age where I was still a little iffy about coasters, and I'd never ridden an inverted coaster before. My little sister, on the other hand, was a coaster maniac and barely passed the height restriction for the ride. Because it was new, the wait time was nearly two hours first thing in the morning, but my parents and I stuck with it in the summer heat for my sister who was pleading to go on the ride.
When we finally got on the ride, my sister was so excited...until the floor dropped out. Suddenly "I wanna go on the ride!" turned into "IWANNAGETOFFTHERIDE!!!" My parents just laughed because it was definitely too late now, and we were off.
My rating at the end: not as intense as it might look. Very fun!
My sister's rating: THAT WAS AWESOME!!!
From someone (me) with no formal engineering classes I’m utterly amazed at your incredible knowledge! I saw the “gum scraper” and laughed because I actually know how to use those scrapers for construction and walls and I never thought of it like that! 18:29
I like hearing about the leg flaps. I was 13 when I rode Tatsu for the first time and never having ridden a flying coaster before, wasn't aware of the leg flaps so while loading was happening I was just casually swinging my legs as if I were on an inverted coaster. Then I nearly wet my pants when the flaps closed and I realized my right leg wasn't secured. Of course the ride attendant came to fix it but I don't remember it being a big deal and only took a couple seconds to open the flaps and get my foot in place. Maybe it's easier to open when the chassis is down?
Yes! A new ElToroRyan video on my birthday! Also congrats on 25k.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Shawn Stevens thank you
That pretzel loop has to be one of the craziest things I’ve ever ridden through. The forces feel like they punch you in the gut and shove you back into your seat, and it’s all so fun!!
That pretzel loop is forking intense!
And yeah operations on it aren't as fast as a B&M Hyper or Invert; but WAY faster than a Vekoma Flying Dutchman or Standup coaster!
Oh boy this is the coolest rabbit hole I’ve fallen down in a long time !
Man that first inverted loop/pretzel was one of the most fucked up EPIC feelings i have EVER experienced in a roller coaster to this day! Have ridden this Superman at Six Flags Great Adv soooo many times its one of my top 3 probably. Other than the first loop the ride sucks really bad and is over quick, BUT that first inverted loop STILL to this day makes it one of my top ones to ride and have ever ridden. I will NEVER forget first riding this and completely not expecting that feeling of this inverted loop/pretzel. You actually like used to be underground on the bottom of the pretzel/loop while your literally facing the opposite direction while on your back than you were at the top(hard to explain but i know some get it), it was just EPIC. Upon watching some newer pov's videos of this ride i noticed though that they filled in that hole on the bottom? I specifically remember a little fenced in square holed area at the bottom of the first loop. I remember they said it was necessary in order to fit the loop in place bc they "ran out of room", so they needed to dig into the ground a little to fit the bottom section of it. I wonder how they went about making that particular bottom section of track NOT underground anymore? Cause I dont see really any digging that was done, which i would guess is how they would do this (by just excavating/digging out a much broader/wider area so then the track looks Above ground like now). The front and BACK(i prefer) rows both have there reasons for doing but man being dragged through that pretzel in the back for the first time was one of the scariest things i have experienced still to this day. I couldnt breathe(which never happens to me anymore as im mostly used to it all, but this kicked my ass to say the least) and i know some people who have said they blacked out or was very close to it. Front is also just as fun in that it truly gives a much better flying feeling obviously, bc nothing is in front of you(your not looking at the back of peoples feet/sneakers lol). That hill climb(though not very high) in the first row is still something else. You're literally just looking at the ground as you ascend higher and higher with nothing to catch you God forbid, its just you and air straight to the ground, all wide open 😯(check out a pov on it, youllsee). Idk if its just cause my body wasnt expecting it or what, but i thought i was about to die almost my first time riding this(lol exaggerating slightly, but you get it). I think i was front row first time too and the push up from the back cars while coming out of the pretzel is insane too, even that little pull up part right before you dip into that pretzel! If it only had like atleast 3 of these pretzels omg lol. Makes me wanna ride it right now!
Six flags would never spend $1million on just a train these days 😂😂
damnnn another eugene
They don’t have that money 😂
I will never forget my first flying coaster. It was Nightwing at Carowinds. I knew it would be a flying coaster as I obviously saw it, but it was such a unique experience that the whole ride, I was laughing my ass off! I rode it in the afternoon after having rode quite a few standard style coaster and by the time I rode Nightwing, I was getting to the point of being ready for something different and it gave me that!
Air/Galatica at Alton Towers - when I worked there, we didn't have to kick the leg flaps unless we knew a train had issues with the sensors.
The pretzel loop is awesome! Always clears out my sinuses too as an added bonus.
Excellent video as usual!
I'm not sure about other B&M coasters, but I know for a fact that Riddler's Revenge, Dueling Dragons, and Hulk used A/B panel view since their installations in 1998/1999. There were panelview style GUI's for various Intamin, Premier, and GCI coasters along that time too.
Love your vids. Also, are you going to make a problematic coaster video on every single coaster made by intamin?
Hahaha probably
I can't wait for the one about Wilderness Run
Haha definitely need to Volcano at least! It was always one of my favorite coasters but definitely had more than its share of problems and was basically a prototype one off as I understand.
@@ElToroRyan Can we get a Problematic Video for a UK Roller Coaster?
I never learned Tatsu, but my friends that worked there had issues with guests trying to escape or avoid the leg flaps. It slowed loading down a lot.
This is the best series on CoasterTube period.
This shows how much of an engineering marvel the ride truly is!
More Six Flags Great America coasters would be great to see on this channel!! It’s my local theme park and I’d love to see it represented more on the channel :)
I notice that Great America is largely ignored in these kinds of videos. Such a shame, since it has such an interesting history.
It’s here!
Watched all ads so you can get your coin.
He needs that child support so bad ~
Click the ads, click all the ads
HAVEN'T WATCHED YET BUT THANKKKK YOUUUU! These videos are amazing. I really hope you're getting monetization in some form, or will use these in the future to get a job that allows you to do so. You are exceptionally talented and its so rare to find someone like that. Killin' it, bro.
If it weren't for the fans demanding not to take down The Whizzer, we probably wouldn't have the same Maxx Force we have today either
Maxxforce is awesome! That launch! I’ve heard a lot of hating and I won’t listen, nothing beats that launch. First rides were last week
I look at maxxforce like a more interesting top thrill/kinda ka/red force. Big launch followed by a big uphill but then the fastest inversion ever and I love the vertical break run at the end
Despite finding it fun I have such a phobia of being stuck in position on this ride on the car I won’t ride it ever anymore. Only current ride in too afraid to go on in the world
I live by gurnee and I rode the superman's flight there 16 times in a row to try to break the record. Sadly they closed before we could hit 21 but always fond memories of this ride.
Not only are these videos awesome. The music in the background is chill and it over powering. It’s perfect for narrating. Good job man. You got a gift.
Current SFGA employee here, loved the video! One interesting thing about Superman that wasn’t mentioned is the gasoline-powered platform that must me used for ride evacuations if a train is stopped on the the lift hill during a power outage. The first time I saw that I was absolutely amazed.
6:40 Project rejected due to the number of trees that needed to be taken down.
Installed a huge wooden coaster instead.
Edit: I noticed the comment below now. Cheers!
It’s the ultimate way to scare the tree huggers who didn’t like the first project. Genius!
@@Mrcaffinebean Oof... somebody doesn't understand the difference between 'we want to maintain the aesthetic of the park' and 'we don't want to use wood'.
@@tim3172 I doubt the “aesthetics“ we’re at issue seeing as they were looking to take down trees within their own park. Not sure why the township would have any say over what a private park does on their private land from an aesthetic standpoint.
However townships have been known to intervene on environmental grounds. So just guessing but I bet that’s what the issue was.
@@Mrcaffinebean at least we ended up with something better!
@@mykadia what does that have to do with this coaster?
I rode Superman: Ultimate Flight for the first time this Tuesday at Six Flags Great Adventure. I never knew that the train had to be so complicated simply to allow the ride to operate in a different position! Such an interesting ride, I really enjoyed this video!
Hersch the hersch on that hersch that’s a very rare hersch hersch wheel
If you got the joke you are giving him $$$.
I was at Great Adventure in NJ a week ago..and the kids loved this ride just as much as I did when I first rode it.
Great video! The Superman at Over Georgia has amazing terrain to go with the ride. Unfortunately, it’s broken almost as much time a day that it is running. I don’t even try to go on it anymore ever since I was stuck hanging out on it for 30 minutes because the other train had an issue and they no longer use the dual station. Also, it’s broken while I’ve been in line at least 5 times over the past 10 years. Fun but holy crap it’s annoying between the breaking issues and the constant hour+ wait for a one trick pony ride.
The way you pronounced Staffordshire 😂 I love it
It's pronounced Staf-ford-sheer, right?
Going there later this summer. It’s a b&m im suprised it’s unreliable
Tie Dough same.
If it’s open. Gadv is my home park and there’s been nothing about whether it’s opening or not
Idk the one at six flags great america seems to be running pretty often. Almost always
I live 20 mins away from gadv & i don’t think you should hold your breath about it opening this summer.
@@felishiahendra it's gonna open, there only letting a certain amount of people in the park at a time, and you are going to have to make a reservation before you go....check the website and look on instagram!
I love B&M Flyers and have no shame admitting it. Just love that soaring feeling you get from them even if they're not the most "thrilling" rides
I never wanna hear the word Hirsch again lol
I’m late to this but I’ve worked in the amusement industry for over 10 years now. I just wanted to say that the portion of the video where you mention the wireless communication to the trains from the operators console, that’s not how that function works. The part you circled on the train is indeed a COM, but a COM is not wireless in the sense that it uses radio frequencies. Those are not antennas on the COM, they are copper coils, or brushes as some would call them. When the train enters the parked position in the station, the coils make contact with a copper plate fixed in the station hardware, allowing for communication. This is why the functions only work when the train is parked. Many rides use this type of communication wiring in many different ways. Just thought I’d fill you in a little!
I'm curious, what do you do in the industry?
Brilliant work. My home park is Alton towers and I've always wondered how the restraints work and how the train is put into the flying position on Galactica 😎
It's pretty shocking how technical this ride is and I'm impressed with how technical this video got
Now I want to go to SF over GA and ride the flying coaster!
“..For any of those who have watched the entire video, congratulations”
What kind of monster DOESN’T watch problematic rollercoasters to the very end. Smh
That must take a lot of weed to make sure all those sensors are high
The maintenance team knows where all that money is going now: weed costs :)
Just wanted to say thank you for the amount of work you put into these videos. It's clear you spent an absurd amount of time doing research!
21:17
Now I can't tell very easily but based on the amount of rubber ducks I'm guessing that the parachute is a skydiving duck
Amazing video! I have just one more fun fact. As someone who has operated the Superman UF clone at great america, at least for that park, there are two abnormalities. Rows 1 and 7 are for some reason much weaker than the other rows. If there is too much weight on either of those rows, when you go to dispatch, the chasis will swing up, but it won’t be able to fully raise the train, and it will stop. You then have to say hands off, and press the CHASIS DOWN button, and that will put it back into the load/unload position. You either try again, or you can tell pretty easily which row it is. You then have to unlock either rows 1&2 or 7&8 and ask the two groups to switch, or if they don’t want to, you split the group in half. It’s a real pain in the ass and it destroys capacity.
Superman at Great Adventure had a similar issue the season that I operated it! For us it was row 6- but they eventually fixed it after taking the train off for about a week. Worst issue EVER for the guests waiting on the transfer track lmao
Holy shit! That sounds miserable
Cuvii hopefully maintenance fixed it for this year lol
ElToroRyan it was 💀
@@alexl8552 it was back in 2014 so I would hope so LOL
Suggestion for a future episode: Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs (Deja Vu / Aftershock / Goliath) . Sounds like those have had their fair share of problems.
Poor deja vu had a rough rough life. Shockwave did too. I think that’s what was was there before super man , ultimate flight? It’s hard to remember nowadays. I’m old now. Iron wolf as well. But what a blast 🤣
I focus primarily on trains and railroad photography but I also have a strong interest in roller coasters and spent my childhood growing up going to Six Flags Magic Mountain as I grew up in Santa Clarita, CA where Valencia and SFMM are located. I've ridden Tatsu many, many times which operates identically to Superman so naturally I took special interest in this video. I've found all your problematic coaster videos fascinating and hope you continue doing more in this series. As a suggestion, two video ideas could be X2 and Riddlers Revenge, both located at Magic Mountain. Having ridden both of these many times as well, they both are complicated and problematic being a stand-up coaster and X2 having its twisting seats and other electronics. X2 spends more time down than it does running and Riddlers often runs with one train only. Anyways, fascinating channel. Way more detailed than the other ones. I subscribed.
Those pretzel loops are some of my favorite elements, but holy crap, I grayed out HARD the first time I rode Superman at GA.
As a SFGA Gurnee fan, (since it’s in my area) the Superman Ultimate Flight ride there is honestly one of my favorites. The Whizzer is also a favorite of many of the younger audience at my six flags.
Let's goo! Where are you traveling first, once parks open?
The amount of effort you put into these videos is insane. Please keep them coming
You should do a video about the coasters at Lagoon Amusement Park. I’d love to see something about Cannibal
Flying coasters are some of the most unique coaster models around if you ask me. I haven't been on any of the Superman clones yet but I have ridden Manta at SeaWorld Orlando and that pretzel loop has to be felt to be believed. And hey, nice BatWing footage! I'm really liking this series so far.
I worked at Superman at SFGA last summer and it would break down every few hours😂
yeah i went there twice in 2019 and it was broken down both days lmao
Wow! Thank you for that. I really had no idea of the intricacies of how a modern rollercoaster is designed and operates. So many redundancies and safety sub-systems are built into the system. It answers some questions I have always had about why there are these certain annoying traits that have always bothered me on so many coasters; things like break zones at the top of hills, certain slow speeds on the lift hill, and even (although I realize it was not a subject you covered but, there was something you said that answered this question anyway) why steel coasters, coasters that theoretically should be smooth rides considering that the trains run on smooth, tubular, steel tracks, are often so rough: those tracks and the superstructures they are built on are not stiff enough, they shake and vibrate. Steel box beam coasters are much smoother because those steel box beams are much more rigid, something you mentioned in passing in your video.
If i only I got a dollar every time you said “hersch” 😂
My home park is SFGM. Since I consider myself a loose enthusiast, I often talk (don’t shut up) about SFGM. Whoever I talk about Superman: Ultimate Flight, someone always WITHOUT FAIL tells a story about how they were stuck in the flying position for anywhere from 20 minutes to upwards of an hour.
FINALLYYYYY
These videos just keep getting better and better. The level of detail you go into is really mind blowing. Keep up the great work!
You would think there would be a Hersh bar at the start of the ride.
Totally off-topic; shockwave was a gorgeous arrow looper and those retro videos of the trains taking those turns and being barely trimmed are 🔥
23:10
Please never ever be impressed by lines of code. In production environments it is almost always a useless metric.
In this particular case, 80K lines of code my be a lot or practically nothing simply based on the language used to write that software. I suspect the latter as it almost certainly written in Java, which is known for verbosity and code bloat in even semi-complex systems.
A better metric would be amount of data being sent for diagnostic purposes. However, since there's not much to compare to, even that is fairly useless.
TL;DR - color me unimpressed regarding the "80K lines of code".
I don't mean for this question to sound rude, but do you really think they would use Java as the language of choice for efficient machinery equipment, let alone a roller coaster responsible for human life? Most rides use programmable logic/automation controllers made by Rockwell, Siemens, etc.
The programming language for those systems is usually a graphical logic language like RLL (relay ladder logic) or FBD (function block diagram). Some programming is done in text based languages, but languages of choice would be highly efficient, low level languages like C#, C, or even possibly Assembly (depending on the application).
And trust me, coming from someone who has written in low level languages before, 80k lines of that crap with no overhead or dependencies sounds like hell, lol.
Source: www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/4vn6bf/every_rollercoaster_has_a_computer_who_makes_and/
@@RehlmProductions You'd be surprised. Java is used in a ton of places you wouldn't expect, even stuff like control systems on military ships. And to be honest if it's not a system that needs sub-millisecond realtime precision or is extremely memory constrained (meaning it can't tolerate a garbage collected language/runtime) I'd rather have something written in a managed language like Java or C# or whatever rather than C or C++ where I'd have to worry about random memory errors (use after free, data races, all that fun stuff) that the programmers missed.
C# is really about as efficient and no more "low level" than Java, it's also a language compiled to intermediate code and then JIT'ed with a garbage collected runtime.
80k LOC for this thing means to me it's probably lots of spaghetti accumulated over long development time with changing requirements.
Why can’t all rollercoaster systems be as simple as arrow coasters, seriously, arrow corkscrew coasters never ever break down, they last for ever, they can run in the rain, they can run with tons of trains and block breaks and they never have errors. Definitely the most reliable coaster type ever and safest if you ignore roughness.
I think the way that FLY at phantasialand will speed up dispatches alot
As someone who has always been into these type of technical things, this video is most fascinating, very good job!
I will always love hearing Americans pronounce Staffordshire.
As a former ride operator of Air at Alton Towers for many seasons your video hits all the points. Very good video. I did have videos of both operating Air and working as the Station Op (attendant at the rear of each station who operates the harness latch, lock and unlock buttons). In the videos I explained the ride start sequence but unfortunately I can no longer find these videos, and AT would most likely not be very happy with it being shared.
In terms of staffing for two station, three craft operations we would typically run with two ride ops, two station ops and four platform hosts. This makes one op, one station op and two hosts for each station. Then we would need three-four additional staff to provide breaks for the hosts and ops. Plus we would have a minimum of one host in the queue and one at the entrance. As you can see running a B&M flying coaster is pretty costly in terms of labour alone, without even considering the maintenance costs.
Oh and yes, the trains (crafts) are very heavy, typically two metric tonnes per car, so 14t for a seven car craft. Believe me, I have actually been involved in pushing a craft along the brakes/waiting areas with the friction brakes blown.
These are very complicated rides with plenty of cause for downtime. For us at AT, it was usually moving floor errors or spiders spinning webs over photo eyes at the top of the lift, on the Hersh bar or on the communication links.
“fun” drinking game: take a shot every time ryan says “pin,” “chasis,” or “prox”
Loving this series. You’re going to inspire a lot of Mechanical Engineers lol