Suspended roller coaster

Suspended roller coaster
Trains swinging on an Arrow Development manufactured suspended roller coaster Iron Dragon at Cedar Point
Status	In Production
First manufactured	1902
No. of installations	About 37
Manufacturers	Arrow Development, Aerial Tramway Construction Co., Big Country Motioneering, Caripro, R&C Entertainment, Setpoint, and Vekoma

A suspended roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster in which the car hangs from the bottom of the by a pivoting fulcrum or hinge assembly. This allows the car and riders to swing side to side as the train races along the track. Due to the swing designs, these roller coasters cannot invert riders.

One of the earliest suspended roller coasters was known as Bisby's Spiral Airship, built in Long Beach, California in the early 1900s. Riders on Bisby's Spiral Airship rode in square gondolas suspended from the track above, which were then carried via lift hill to the top of a tower. The gondolas then rolled down the track, which spiraled down the tower back to the loading platform. The attraction operated at least until the mid 1910s.

In 1975, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmidt debuted Alpenflug at the annual Oktoberfest fair in Munich, Germany. Featuring multi-car trains and a 2700-foot twisting, spiraling layout, Alpenflug was a hit during the 16-day fair. However, the design was scrapped after analysis revealed significant stress in the track, whose curves were not banked, and in the wheel assemblies, as the train's brake fins were located at the bottom of the train's gondolas instead of near the track itself.

The first permanent modern suspended roller coaster was The Bat at Kings Island. Built by Arrow Development, The Bat opened April 21, 1981, but it was soon plagued with problems. The problems included: excessive stress on the support springs due to the unbanked curved track sections and stress on the wheels because the brakes were mounted at bottom of the swinging cars. Kings Island's USD $3.8 million ride closed in 1983 and was later scheduled for demolition. The Bat's former site is now occupied by the Arrow designed looping coaster Vortex. The suspended coaster would return to Kings Island in 1993 with the addition of Top Gun which after a period of being called Flight Deck was renamed The Bat in 2014, a reference to the original 1981 coaster.