Air
Location	Alton Towers
Park Section	Forbidden Valley
Type	Steel - Flying
Status	Open
Opened	March 16, 2002
Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Designer	John Wardley
Model	Flying Coaster
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	66 feet (20.1 m)
Length	2,756 feet (840 m)
Max speed	46.6 miles per hour (75 km/h)
Inversions	2
Duration	1:40
Capacity	1,500 riders per hour
Cost	£12,000,000
Max G force	3.5
Air at RCDB
Pictures of Air at RCDB

Air (originally from Aerial Inversion Ride) is a steel flying coaster made by Bolliger & Mabillard of Switzerland. The coaster is located in the Forbidden Valley area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. Riders are placed in a horizontal position and gain the feeling of flight by "flying" close to the ground and under footpaths, which makes for a thrilling and fun experience. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1632x1224, 170 KB) Air at Alton Towers I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Alton Towers is one of Britains most famous theme parks. ... Alton Towers is one of Britains most famous theme parks. ... The Dueling Dragons, the worlds only Dueling Steel-Inverted roller coaster located at Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando Resort, Orlando, Florida. ... A flying roller coaster (Flyer) is a roller coaster where the riders are secured in flying position with the track overhead. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in leap years). ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M) is a roller coaster manufacturer based in Monthey, Switzerland. ... John Wardley is a consultant who specialises in concept design and development for the Theme Park and other mass tourism and leisure industries. ... A lift hill, or chain hill, is often the initial upward section of track on a typical roller coaster that initially transports the roller coaster train to an elevated point. ... A foot (plural: feet; symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The metre, or meter (U.S.), is a measure of length. ... Miles per hour is a unit of speed, expressing the number of international miles covered per hour. ... Kilometres per hour (American spelling: kilometers per hour) is a unit of both speed (scalar) and velocity (vector). ... The nominal acceleration due to gravity at sea level on the Earths surface, also known as standard gravity, is defined as exactly 9. ... The Dueling Dragons, the worlds only Dueling Steel-Inverted roller coaster located at Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando Resort, Orlando, Florida. ... A flying roller coaster (Flyer) is a roller coaster where the riders are secured in flying position with the track overhead. ... Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M) is a roller coaster manufacturer based in Monthey, Switzerland. ... Alton Towers is one of Britains most famous theme parks. ... Alton Towers is one of Britains most famous theme parks. ... Staffordshire (abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ...

The Ride

Air is located in the calm end of the Forbidden Valley, away from the destruction that Nemesis causes. The ride itself is very calm and makes a change from the other rides in the park. The queue leads to a section which is split, allowing you to go on the left or right track, it makes no difference but with two stations operating at once, Air can go through more riders per hour. Once seated, you pull down the overhead restraints, which are comfortably padded using a rubber vest which instantly recognises the shape of your chest creating maximum comfort. When everyone is secured in their seats, the lights turn a dim blue and the floor retracts. A voice whispers "Prepare for Air" before the seats retract back 90°, so you are now facing the floor. The voice then says "Assume the position... now fly!" before the train slowly moves out the station and the ride starts with the train being pulled up the chain lift hill. After cresting the lift hill, Air makes a pre-drop section to the right, before going down it's first main drop where the on-ride photo section is. Immediately after this it enters a half zero-g roll, where riders are flipped to face the sky and take part in a blind curve sweeping left where it is flipped back. After going through an upward helix, the train then enters a barrel roll, before the train makes it's final drops and turns, before the train then ventures out away from the view of the "public" and sweeps onto a long braking run, smoothly of course. The train is brought into the opposite station to the one it was loaded in but thanks to double sided cupboards, riders can still retrieve the loose articles they left before riding. Nemesis is a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster located at Alton Towers in Forbidden Valley. ...

Trivia

• As well as Corkscrew, Air features a black lift hill, to camouflage it within the trees, due to nearby residents' visibilty of it.
• Air is the only flying coaster to feature a half zero-g roll.
• Air is the first B&M flying coaster, but only by less than a month, when Superman Ultimate Flight opened at Six Flags Over Georgia on April 3rd.

Superman: Ultimate Flight is a steel roller coaster with locations in three Six Flags parks: Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, Georgia, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ and Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. ... Six Flags Over Georgia is a 230-acre theme park located west of Atlanta, in Austell, Georgia. ...

External links

• Air at Alton Towers Almanac