Roller Coaster Airtime is one of the most sought-after elements to Roller Coasters. Simply put if you are not glued to your seat on a coaster element you are probably experiencing airtime.
What causes Roller Coaster Airtime?
Airtime will happen on a ride when the train does one element at such a speed and angle to make your body lift up out of your seat. That can be in an elegant or even a violent way. During the course of a roller coaster, you will experience a lot of different G forces. If you are feeling pressed into the seat that means you are experiencing Positive G’s. It is when you feel weightless or being ejected, then now you are feeling Negative G’s. It is in these Negative G’s when the Airtime happens.
Floater Roller Coaster Airtime
Floater Airtime comes when you hit a hill and as you crest the top you get that feeling of complete weightlessness. If you have ever ridden a B&M Hyper coaster then you know what this is. But most wooden roller coasters will also have a good healthy dose of this.
Ejector Airtime
Ejector is much rarer than Floater. While floater feels elegant and fun, Ejector feels violent. One way I think of ejector airtime is it feels like if you didn’t have a restraint holding you in that the element would have killed you. Like the first drop if you are sitting in the back on Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City is one such element like that. Ejector is what many roller coaster enthusiasts think is the best kind of airtime.
Hangtime and is it Airtime?
Hangtime is when in the course of a roller coaster you go through an inversion and you are pushing down on the restraint hanging there. A Corkscrew is a perfect example of this.
It is in our opinion that hangtime is airtime. We stick with the definition that as long as you are not in your seat then that is airtime.
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