From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 21:09:19 GMT
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Subject: Re: Unique Amusement Rides (old ones)
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Keywords: 

mapike@sei.cmu.edu (Mary Ann Pike) writes:
>2) Suspended sailplane ride - you could move the rudder to make the plane
>   go in and out (or dive and rise, depending on how you look at it). 
>   The only other one I've seen is at King's Island.

Lagoon, in Farmington, Utah (about midway between Ogden and Salt Lake
City) has one of these.  If you get the motion right, and in sync with
the wind, you can get these things going *really* out of control!  This
is the only ride in recent memory that has actually scared me.  Here are
the details as passed on to me by Gerry Swetsky (lisbon@vpnet.chi.il.us):

    First one has to determine from whence the prevailing wind was
    blowing; aha - very important step.  Then you would get on the
    ride, trying to look very casual.  The ride operators are well
    trained to spot the professional "scooterites".  Once the ride
    begins, you would "feel out" the plane you were in by casually
    moving the airfoil back and forth a bit.  When the ride had reached
    full speed and the plane was headed into the wind, you would move
    the handle smartly to the right as far as you could.  This moves
    the airfoil to the left, setting up a great deal of wind resistance
    and bring the plane close to the ground.  Once you've reached the
    point at which you're closest to the ground you should quickly move
    the handle to the left.  The effect is to lift the plane as high as
    possible into the air, causing the entire ride to lurch, scaring
    h*** out of the other riders (unless they're experienced) and as
    often as not, moving the ride operator to evoke numerous and
    sometimes slanderous oaths.  On a windy day, I've managed to get
    the plane high enough to observe the ride from the top, and getting
    a full realization of why they strap you in the ride at the onset.
    One can get quite a headache also from slacking the rear cable
    (I seem to recall one time when I managed to slack the front cable
    as well).

    Remember, on this ride you have a certain amount of control.  It
    makes it kind of unique in my estimation.  Outside of the Dodgem,
    there's very few rides where the rider controls his own destiny.

Well, I tried Gerry's advice, and saw the top of the structure (but
don't recall that I slacked the cables).  The problem is that once
you've got this motion going on, you get out of sync with the wind, and
end up twisting wildly all over the place.  And the ones at Lagoon don't
strap you in.  After this rather harrowing experience, and with my heart
thumping wildly, I spent the rest of my ride trying to stay right on the
line between excitement and out-of-control terror.

Geoff ``Time to go relax on the Schwarzkopf Doppel Looping'' Allen

--
Geoff Allen          \  Please remain seated and keep your hands and arms
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \  above your head at all times.  Enjoy your ride.
geoff@pmafire.inel.gov \