From watching the video it seems like as you are going up the hill you start to recline on you back, now from watching movies of the stealth you seem to recline all the way back in the station then you start to move. I was just wondering why they would have changed it? Save time?
Yes you are correct. Stealth reclines in the station where the 2nd gen Dutchmen should recline on the lift. The biggest negative for Stealth is the extensive amount of time in the station. The 2nd gens are making a major improvement on this by having two stations and reclining on the lift.
Yeah that was the only real problem with Stealth. The capacity was horrible. I hope SFWoA can improve on it. ------------- YVAN EHT NIOJ -The Simpsons
they only built 1 Flying Dutchman, now there is already a second generation out
------------- Best Coaster: Millennium Force Worst Coaster: Project Stealth
It is a new model, so I guess you could call it the next gem. Hopefully it will have improvements though. BTW, X-Flight does have a slightly altered layout, making it a little more different from Stelth.
------------- Coasters- a little slice of heaven
Actually, I don't believe they ever referred to Stealth as a 1st Generation- I believe they always referred to it as a prtotype. Therefore, X-Flight and Batwing are first-gens. And Originally on stealth, they wanted the trains to recline on the lift hill. Unfortunately, they couldn't get them to do it, so they changed it to make them recline in the station. I guess they worked those problems out!
Stealth suffers from the problems associated with a new radical design. Remember that the first suspended coaster, The Bat At PKI, only ran for a few years before they tore it down due to severe problems. You just have to build one to find the problems. This is why S&S built a thrust air prototype out in Utah before they even tried to sell one to a park.
The key word here is "prototype", which Stealth was. X Flight and Batwing are both improved designs with a near identical layout to the original.