Kennywood unveils coaster name

the vindicator

WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. — The new rapid-launch roller coaster that will open next season at Kennywood Park will be called Sky Rocket. The amusement park unveiled the name Wednesday.

Sky Rocket will be the first ride at Kennywood to feature linear synchronous-motor launch technology.

“With the coaster’s incredible launch that shoots you straight up and then plummets back down, Sky Rocket is a name that really fits the ride experience,” said Jerome Gibas, general manager of the amusement park in suburban Pittsburgh.

Sky Rocket’s launch will take the trains from 0 to 50 mph in three seconds.

Riders will then experience a vertical ascent to 95 feet before a brief cliffhanger pause at the top, followed by a 90-degree drop into a maximum G-force pullout, according to a news release from Kennywood.

Riders will experience extended airtime as the train then races into an inverted top-hat element, passes into a barrel roll and goes vertical again through a twist-up leading to another pause. Next comes a second vertical free fall, followed by another maximum G-force pullout on the way into a highly banked fan curve.

After a traditional corkscrew, a curve to a zero-gravity hill and a series of wave turns, riders finally return to the station, 65 seconds after the ride began.

Sky Rocket is being built in the United States by Premier Rides of Millersville, Md.