Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

What is the most surprising airtime moment you’ve experienced in your enthusiast career?

Slamming Coastercore

Slamming Coastercore

Mega Poster
As enthusiasts, we can see where airtime should be. We look at those beautiful hills and hope for violent ejection or blissful floater, satisfying the negative G force addiction many of us have. Often these deliver exactly how we want but also similarly they have the ability to disappoint and be underwhelming, leaving us with the equivalent of airtime blue balls. “Why is my arse still in the seat?” you ask the coaster gods and all they do is laugh back at you.

What is much rarer though and possibly one of the most fantastic surprises any enthusiast can receive on a coaster is a yank of airtime that’s completely unexpected. You haven’t braced for it, you just get cleared from your seat in a moment of pure unanticipated elation. I experienced this on Nessie at Hansa Park earlier this year and it made it one of my favourite new coasters of 2020.

So this is where I put the question to you. What is the most surprising airtime moment you’ve experienced in your enthusiast career?
Whether it was unexpectedly violent for the profiling you observed off-ride or just a coaster where you did not expect negative G’s to be a thing; I’d love to know where more of those hidden pops of airtime can be found.
 
Last edited:
Funnily enough my most surprising airtime experience was also on a Schwarzkopf looper - Mindbender at SFOG. I'd already had one ride on the back row and got some airtime going down the drops, but I then had a front row ride and got a little pop of ejector going up one of the hills! Did not expect that at all, and I think that's the only ride I've ever had where I've got that kind of experience.
 
Karacho. That little dip in the dark before the launch is so janky and steep. The descent must be less than 2m but it feels almost vertical and you're thrown out the seat for a short moment.

This one is more based on personal expectations but Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens. I'd been on the Dreamland Scenic Railway before and found it slow and sedate so I assumed Rutschebanen would be more about the scenes inside the mountain and the vintage appeal. My God was I wrong, every drop you're launched out the seat and the two camelbacks have some of the most intense and sustained floater air I've experienced. It's such a good coaster mainly helped by the minimal lapbars.
 
It's funny you ask, because it makes me realize my most surprising moments are on lower ranked coasters; kinda makes sense, where you expect nothing and suddenly have airtime coming at your face!

A few surprising airtime moments:

Steel Force (Dorney) Third Airtime Hill - This is a double dip hill headed into the turnaround helix; there is a specific, loooooong sustained floater airtime hill here. I'm trying to recall exactly where I was sitting in the train, as that was most likely a culprit, but it was quite pronounced!


Timber Wolf (WoF) Second Airtime Hill - This one I'm sure was a glitch in the Matrix - I had a zen ride, riding in the second-to-last row of the train. Having all of the weight of the train ahead of me cause a massive "yank" of the final car, which generated a weird ejector experience that really took me off guard on an otherwise tame woodie.


Steel Curtain Banana Roll - dude, this is a weirddd element, on par for this coaster, and has some majority floater/ejector at play during the Banana Roll. The Serpent Roll too had a surprising "tug" in the back of the train while exiting - definitely ride far from what I was expecting, with some great surprise airtime!


Big Dipper (Camden Park) Second Drop - Getting airtime in a NAD train shouldn't be surprising (a la Thunderbolt). Getting big ejector airtime on a 35 ft. hill is.

 
Sweet, unassuming Nessie. Where on earth did you learn that naughty RMC-esque ejector?!
I loved that surprise. Especially hearing all of us on the the train go "OOOOH!" as we were thrown from our seats.

You know what else I think delivers more airtime than it should? The little bunny hop of on Colossus. Get that in the back row and you are in for a split second of awesomeness.

And on the subject of "Airtime blue balls" (as @Slamming Coastercore so eloquently puts it) may I present to you: Hyperions second airtime hill. The one after the non-iversion on the way back. The one where you see it coming and go "hell yes!" and then it does...NOTHING. Ugh.
 
Benenen said:
Karacho. That little dip in the dark before the launch is so janky and steep. The descent must be less than 2m but it feels almost vertical and you're thrown out the seat for a short moment.
Click to expand...

See I didn't actually think that the dip on Karacho delivered anything at all. Far too short to actually experience ejection before you're back on your arse. I think you could probably still get away with it being halfway between that and the start of Saw to still experience airtime, but the multiple rides i've had on Karacho have never delivered any. Even the moments that are meant too!

Hyde said:
It's funny you ask, because it makes me realize my most surprising moments are on lower ranked coasters; kinda makes sense, where you expect nothing and suddenly have airtime coming at your face!

A few surprising airtime moments:

Steel Force (Dorney) Third Airtime Hill - This is a double dip hill headed into the turnaround helix; there is a specific, loooooong sustained floater airtime hill here. I'm trying to recall exactly where I was sitting in the train, as that was most likely a culprit, but it was quite pronounced!

Timber Wolf (WoF) Second Airtime Hill - This one I'm sure was a glitch in the Matrix - I had a zen ride, riding in the second-to-last row of the train. Having all of the weight of the train ahead of me cause a massive "yank" of the final car, which generated a weird ejector experience that really took me off guard on an otherwise tame woodie.

Steel Curtain Banana Roll - dude, this is a weirddd element, on par for this coaster, and has some majority floater/ejector at play during the Banana Roll. The Serpent Roll too had a surprising "tug" in the back of the train while exiting - definitely ride far from what I was expecting, with some great surprise airtime!

Big Dipper (Camden Park) Second Drop - Getting airtime in a NAD train shouldn't be surprising (a la Thunderbolt). Getting big ejector airtime on a 35 ft. hill is.
Click to expand...

Great to see some US examples on here! Gives me even more to look forward to for when I finally get to some of parks outside of Florida! Also big ejector on a 35ft hill sounds amazing ? Can't wait to ride all those coasters!

SilverArrow said:
I saw this thread and thought immediately about that ride on Nessie before I noticed you'd said it! ?
Click to expand...

Ahh yes, the very inspiration for this topic ;)

Serena said:
You know what else I think delivers more airtime than it should? The little bunny hop of on Colossus. Get that in the back row and you are in for a split second of awesomeness.

And on the subject of "Airtime blue balls" (as @Slamming Coastercore so eloquently puts it) may I present to you: Hyperions second airtime hill. The one after the non-iversion on the way back. The one where you see it coming and go "hell yes!" and then it does...NOTHING. Ugh.
Click to expand...

I think the bunny hop on Colossus might actually be my first ever experience of proper airtime on a coaster, well remembered!

Haha you know me, always try to put things eloquently where possible ?
 
No idea what the name of the element is, but the banked..'thing' before the corner on to the last inversion of Taiga is ridiculous. You look at it, you watch POVs, and it doesn't look like it gives much air time. But damn, it properly flings you out of your seat, giving some crazy ejector that I can't explain.

To see what part I mean exactly, it happens between 55-59secs on this video:


Also, airtime blue balls...Bandit at Movie Park is the worst offender for me. So many hills that look like they could give airtime, but NOTHING
 
Wicked Cyclone (SFNE): towards the end before the last barrel roll there is a weird s-shaped transition with a sudden airtime jolt that took me completely by surprise.

Goliath (Walibi Holland): I am still fascinated by the sideway airtime found on the Stengel Dive. It's so fabulous and elegant it was really especial.

Superman (Parque Warner): I must agree with @daviddoc . Back row on that is quite amazing as well as the really odd hyper-esque airtime found instead of the MCBR section.

Big Thunder Mountain: just before the turn heading for the last lift hill there is this small hop that always catches me off guard. Add the headchopper to that and it's a perfect match.
 
Thunderbolt at Kennywood has this really weird not-quite-double-up right into the chain lift that actually provides some ejector, but only if you're sitting in the absolute front of the train. I don't recommend it unless you really love having your quads violently slammed into the buzz bar, but I always think it's interesting on a coaster not known for having airtime.

Also after hearing everyone complain about Giovanola hypers, I was pleasantly surprised that Titan gave me some decent floater on the first hill after the turnaround. Not much else going for the ride other than the positive G's on that helix, but still something.
 
Not sure this counts but I knew to expect airtime on Phoenix and Jack Rabbit's (KW) double down, but I was not prepared for just how strong of the airtime to expect.

Also the drop right out of the station towards the back of the train on Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was quite a surprise as well.

It's a known entity now but I remember the first few rides on Goliath at SFGrAm and the airtime on the turnaround after the first drop. Have very vivid memories of @Antinos going "What the **** how did they manage to put airtime here" mid ride.

Lastly big shoutout to basically All of Phantom's Revenge for airtime that's far stronger than you think it should be in places you really don't expect it.
 
The one that really comes to mind for me was the three back-to-back-to-back airtime hills on Twisted Timbers. I knew they were there. I know how RMC tries to buck you off. But oh man did I not expect the severity of those three hills. I was completely thrown off guard on those and left with some fabulous bruises.

Also the treble clef on Fury. It definitely just looked fun offride, but actually on it, it was a really unexpected little pop of air!

witchfinder said:
Funnily enough my most surprising airtime experience was also on a Schwarzkopf looper - Mindbender at SFOG.
Click to expand...
When Mindbender is running well, the airtime is incredible. It can vary so much from ride to ride. I've ended up sitting basically on my friend's lap from literally being thrown out of my seat and into the one next to me.
 
Maybe this one is hard to believe, but for me it might be River King Mine Train at sfstl. To activate this secret, you must be a small thirteen-year-old, sitting in the back seat with the lapbar barely closed. I remember getting whipped out of the final drop in the tunnel so fast I almost fell out of the train.

OK, maybe my childhood memories are not entirely accurate, but I still remember that moment very clearly. Highly recommend A+
 
in my limited experience, the top 3 in no particular order are:

- Shock Wave at SFOT (younger brother to the Mindbender at SFOG!) the next to last hill you get a great little unexpected boost.

- New Texas Giant at SFOT... a small hill midway through the ride is so surprising And my favorite moment of the ride.

- Goliath at SFOG... I was expecting it to be lacking the airtime like much of the SFOT Titan, but was surprised with much airtime throughout the ride!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top