World's First Flying Coaster?

Although Stealth is billed as the 'world's first flying coaster'...is it really?  Japanese coaster designers say not...on their site it says they made it and it shows a picture of some crappy looking flying coaster...could this be the world's first flying coaster?  http://www.hoei-sangyo.co.jp/
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Rollercoasters are my life, I think about them more than I think about....wait, thats all I think about :)

Proud Owner of www.coasterkingdom.cjb.net

Yes, I saw this a few years ago, and it definitely qualifies as a flying coaster just as much as Stealth, Air, Superman, or any of the others do. Doesn't look quite as thrilling though :)

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|| Jonathan Hawkins ||
http://www.starcoasters.com
http://www.thrillspot.com

Yes, that is Birdman at Fujikyu Highland, it was shut down this year after some accident.

http://rcdb.com/quicksearch.htm?quicksearch=birdmen

It appears to be a really neat flyer.  Mainly what a flyer is about, not inversions, but the flying sensation.

Also

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Nessy: Ride of Steel
Webmaster of Digital Coaster - http://digital-coaster.com

Yeah I'd say they should sue. LOL jk. Yeah I hafta agree that WOULD be the first flying coaster....not Stealth.
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It's his turn to feast, when you ride the Son of Beast.

http://www.coasterclub.org/en/fd/41/gs-skytrak.shtml

Check out Skytrack, formerly ay Granada Studios Tour, Manchester UK. It was a solo flying coaster, only operated for a few months before the park finally closed. It was a nightmare for capacity, but a great ride, a bit weird when people where watching you on it cause you were on your own, but fantastic swooping over the rooftops of the buildings.

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Just like perfection, floorless...needs no correction, floorless...like no other, floorless... absolutely floorless. The Ones.

How is this the first flying coaster??

On RCDB, it says it opened up in 2000... the same year Stealth opened up. Did Birdmen open up a week or so before Stealth or something?

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...It's here, it's here, it's here!!! Whooptie-freakin' doo!!
Ok, what's new for 2003?? I can't wait!!...

Not to mention, Stealth was actually built in 1999.
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2001:The downfall of Disney. The year they stopped asking the mouse for his opinion.

Wow, the Japanese version makes the Zamperla restraints look almost "minimalist"....almost a "capsule" rather than a restraint....SkyTrak, OTOH, looks WAY more like a hang-gliding experience.

I think either of these could qualify as flying.  Speeds and capacity are the real improvements Vekoma made in creating Stealth, not the position....

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Florida needs an Intamin and/or CCI soon...PLEASE!
Son of Drop Zone - PKI CoasterCamp I Champions!!!

Why would a park build it one year and not open it until the next? Did they have some kind of problems with the trains?

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Sept. 11th 2001, Slayer released God Hates Us All. The song "Disciple" uncannily describes the events of that day, as well as the anthrax letters that followed.
--Slayer: Thrash band, or the next Nostradamus?

Notice our post times...does it go alphabetical by screen name if you post at the same time? :)

[edit] What's up with that, mine was before rollergator's and now it's not...that's freaky. :)[/edit]

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Sept. 11th 2001, Slayer released God Hates Us All. The song "Disciple" uncannily describes the events of that day, as well as the anthrax letters that followed.
--Slayer: Thrash band, or the next Nostradamus?

*** This post was edited by CPgenius on 2/24/2002. ***

Yep, Stealth was third in the world, but first in the USA.  I was at Fujikyu after Birdmen went SBNO :(
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- Peabody

X was also not the first 4d.  These guys had a prototype built around 99 or so.  (I think the patent was filed in 98)  They have pics of their prototype on the same site.
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- Peabody

Actually, didn't Marine World have the "World's first flying coaster"?  ;)
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2001:The downfall of Disney. The year they stopped asking the mouse for his opinion.

No it is a floorless.  Six flags just tried to draw the crowd away from PGA.

That sledgehammer coaster looks really cool!
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Is there somthing more, then what I've been handed, I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answers!- Hoobastank

Six Flags marketing is pathetic

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Rollercoasters are my life, I think about them more than I think about....wait, thats all I think about :)

Proud Owner of www.coasterkingdom.cjb.net

Yeah, Six Flag's marketing is really terrible.  How many millions of people visited a Six Flags park last year again?
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If the shoe fits, find another one.

Peabody:

If I recall the pictures correctly, what Arrow had at their shop was more a test piece than a full prototype.  It was a few humdred feet of dead end track that a car rolled down and then had to be winched back to the starting point.  I'm not sure if it could carry people or not.

This contrasts with what S&S did on their air launched concept, where they built what was pretty much a full coaster and even gave potential customers rides.

Jim, I was actually referring to the Hoei Sangyo 4D prototype which was built prior to Arrows.  Pics of it are on their site.  It was full scale!
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- Peabody

Did it ever open to the public? If not, what happened? You can't really claim a world's first if it never sees the light of day.
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2001:The downfall of Disney. The year they stopped asking the mouse for his opinion.