The insanity that is Falcon's Flight - Six Flags Qiddiya
https://content.sixflags.com/qiddiya/about-the-park/
Six Flags intends to build the world's longest, tallest and fastest coaster, sometime between 2023 and 2030. While the animation for the ride seems very cartoonish, I believe we are looking at the first full-circuit 500 foot plus coaster. Specifics were sparse, but they do provide a top speed of 156 mph in the video. The restraints and train layout resemble that of an Intamin ride.
A level of skepticism is probably warranted with any project of this size and this far in the future, but it at least seems plausible given the parties involved (unlike the Florida Polar Coaster).
They can do whatever they want and I won’t care. I’ll never set foot in Saudi Arabia, mainly because the idea of denial of rights, prison, beatings, and torture doesn’t appeal to me.
I'll believe it when it's built. As for now, it's just another failed Middle East project with the Six Flags name on it.
This isn't the first time I've seen these attention grabbing announcements and it won't be the last. I won't call it anything until 2030 arrives.
But...
The track record of new amusement parks getting off the ground is not very good. It takes a long term financial commitment and no guaranteed returns. The continued investment required for additional returns is what tends to kill these parks. Investors want a quick payback. Amusement parks aren't that.
Saudi Arabia and UAE from what I understand are pretty wealthy countries that benefited from higher oil prices in recent years. If it was 2007, we probably could see this park and enthusiast's wet dream of a ride get built in that area. But this is 2019. Between the increased movement away from oil and towards renewables and the US increasing their oil production, thus bringing down crude oil prices, I'm even more doubtful that this ride will actually happen. That is unless their economy evolves away from oil, and maybe it has. I don't know, I'm just a midwesterner that listens to podcasts about this kind of stuff.
At freefall with no friction, you would need an 820 foot drop to reach 156 mph. If it's not launched, it's not happening.
Hobbes: "What's the point of attaching a number to everything you do?"
Calvin: "If your numbers go up, it means you're having more fun."
ApolloAndy said:
At freefall with no friction, you would need an 820 foot drop to reach 156 mph. If it's not launched, it's not happening.
Using an online calculator I found (https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/free-fall), you'd need that launch to be 97mph to reach 156mph on a 500-foot drop. Assuming the "500 foot plus" is 599 feet, you'll still need to be going 80mph at the top.
And that's all free-fall; no friction or wind.
If the Saudi government wants to pay to build it, it will happen. 6 Flags won't be paying for it. I am going to bet that if it does happen, the tunnel will be a launch section.
Yeah, calculating the physics of the claimed speed is one thing, but how about this obvious question: how is a train that is going 95mph at the bottom of the first hill somehow making it up a taller hill that, when descended, has the train going 55mph faster? Has Six Flags discovered a new form of propulsion? Maybe they took a leaf from Randy Marsh's book and stole a superconducting magnet from CERN, dressed as Princess Leia....
"The term is 'amusement park.' An old Earth name for a place where people could go to see and do all sorts of fascinating things." -Spock, Stardate 3025
Saudi Arabia doesn't currently offer tourist visas. I assume that will change if this project comes to fruition.
I develop Superior Solitaire when not riding coasters.
Look... if Millennium Force can hit 100mph with a strong tailwind then I see no reaso... oh, never mind...
P.S. Sarcasm
Great Scott!
Hobbes: "What's the point of attaching a number to everything you do?"
Calvin: "If your numbers go up, it means you're having more fun."
There's about as much chance of this park being built and there is of Brexit
RCMAC said:
They can do whatever they want and I won’t care. I’ll never set foot in Saudi Arabia, mainly because the idea of denial of rights, prison, beatings, and torture doesn’t appeal to me.
Denial of rights, prison and beatings sounds an awful lot like the US. With reality tv we've got the torture covered too.
Yes and no. The US certainly does not have a perfect record, but Saudi Arabia didn't allow women to drive until 2017, for example. The country's record on human rights leaves much to be desired.
Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep.
--Fran Lebowitz
In my lifetime I've seen mistreatment of blacks, gays, women, immigrants and the disabled...among other groups. Some of that I've seen happening at the hand of our government just in the last couple of years. Our record isn't something I would hang my hat on.
That said, I understand what RCMAC was getting at.
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