Sky Rocket

Sky Rocket
Kennywood Park
Coordinates	40°23′11″N 79°51′53″W / 40.38639°N 79.86472°W / 40.38639; -79.86472Coordinates: 40°23′11″N 79°51′53″W / 40.38639°N 79.86472°W / 40.38639; -79.86472
Status	Operating
Opening date	June 29, 2010 (2010-06-29)
General statistics
Manufacturer	Premier Rides
Lift/launch system	Linear Synchronous Motor
Height	95 ft (29 m)
Length	2,100 ft (640 m)
Speed	50 mph (80 km/h)
Inversions	3
Duration	approx. 1:00
Max vertical angle	90°
Height restriction	52 in (132 cm)
Sky Rocket at RCDB Pictures of Sky Rocket at RCDB

Sky Rocket is a steel roller coaster located at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the first coaster erected at the park since the renovation of the Steel Phantom into the Phantom's Revenge in 2001; it also marks the return of a roller coaster that features inversions. It was completed in the late spring of 2010 and after a period of testing opened at the end of June.

The Sky Rocket occupies the ground formerly held by the Turnpike near the entrance to the park; the Turnpike ride is expected to return to the park in the future in a modified state.

Ride Experience

After exiting the station, the train turns 180 degrees. It then lines up with the launch motors and is accelerated from 0-50 mph (80 km/h) in 3 seconds. It goes up a 95-foot top hat element (without changing direction) into a cutback inversion, which is two half-corkscrews joined together in opposite directions so that the train exits moving 180 degrees from the direction it entered. It goes straight into a Zero-G Roll followed by a 180 degree upwards curve into the mid-course brake run. it comes almost to a complete stop only to plummet to the ground with a near-vertical drop. It goes into a low over-banked turn under the cutback, followed by a corkscrew over another piece of track, creating a head-chopper effect. It goes into another over-banked turn, followed by a series of S-curves to add to the excitement. It does one more 180 degree turn into a series of bunny hops going under the corkscrew. It does one final twist straight into the final brake run.

Trains

The trains are painted red and black with the "Sky Rocket" logo on the front, and each train has 2 cars. The ride also features a harness system, which locks riders in at the waist rather than the shoulders. This gives riders a sense of mobility not usually felt in coasters featuring inversions.

Track

The track is painted blue with white supports.

Notability

Sky Rocket is a powered launch coaster using linear synchronous motors, a first for Premier Rides designs.

It is also one of only three coasters in the world to feature a cutback inversion, Space Mountain: Mission 2 at Disneyland Paris and SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge at Nickelodeon Universe are the only others.

Awards

See also

• Superman: Ultimate Flight (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom), another Premier Rides roller coaster which is considered, by the manufacturer, as Sky Rocket's successor^[2]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sky Rocket.

^{[3] [4] [5]}

Pittsburgh metropolitan area
Counties	Allegheny Armstrong Beaver Brooke Butler Fayette Hancock Indiana Jefferson Lawrence Washington Westmoreland	Map of the Pittsburgh Tri-State with green counties in the metropolitan area and yellow counties in the combined area.
Major cities	Pittsburgh
Cities and towns 15k-50k (in 2010)	Baldwin Bethel Park Butler Cranberry Hampton Hempfield McCandless McKeesport Monroeville Moon Mt. Lebanon Murrysville New Castle North Huntingdon Penn Penn Hills Peters Plum Ross Scott Shaler Steubenville Upper St. Clair Unity Weirton West Mifflin White Wilkinsburg
Airports	Pittsburgh International Arnold Palmer Allegheny County Beaver Butler Eddie Dew Greensburg Jeannette Herron Jefferson Jimmy Stewart Joe Hardy Lakehill Monroeville New Castle Rock Rostraver Washington Wheeling Zelienople
Topics	Chronology Education Economy Etymology Government City Landmarks Area Landmarks History Media Neighborhoods People Public Schools Film Skyscrapers Sports Transportation
Book Portal Category