Why can`t they make Top Gun at PKI go upside down? I know it would never be possible but why not?

I know it would never be possible

You just answered your own question.

Just look at the ride...Not gonna happen.

Why mess with something if it isn`t broken? The old saying "if it ain`t broke, don`t fix it" applies in this situation.

why is it not possible?

the money it would take to redesign it they could just put a new one in somewhere else, leave top gun alone except for a paint job and themeing like it used to have

I meant while thay was building back in 1992 why could they not add a loop?

Its the wrong kind of cars. There is a difference between suspended cars and inverted cars. Suspended cars can swing freely from side to side, while inverted cars are rigid and can't swing side to side. If a suspended car went into a loop, it would flop sideways at the top of the loop and probably hit the track. The only way to prevent it from going sideways there is to have such a high speed into the loop that the force keeps it straight. This force would probably knock out all on board, but hey, LETS DO IT!....

Difference in cars:

Inverted

Suspended

I hope i made some sense...lol

Its the wrong kind of cars. There is a difference between suspended cars and inverted cars. Suspended cars can swing freely from side to side, while inverted cars are rigid and can't swing side to side. If a suspended car went into a loop, it would flop sideways at the top of the loop and probably hit the track. The only way to prevent it from going sideways there is to have such a high speed into the loop that the force keeps it straight. This force would probably knock out all on board, but hey, LETS DO IT!....

Difference in cars:

Inverted

Suspended

I hope i made some sense...lol

Hey thanks for answring my question without calling me stupid! You rock!

Actually, to be honest, a loop on a suspended coaster is well within the boundries of physics to preform safely. The amount of force one would feel, would of course be greater than normal, but it is doable. Speed is a misconception in this particular case. Centrifugal force, (NOT CENTRIPUTAL, THAT DOES NOT EXIST), would be great enough to keep the cars suspended linearlly, i.e. not fall on their side. So to answer your question, a loop on Top Gun is technically possible, however, Arrow felt the need to simply not include one. Hope this all helps!

That really helped thanks alot!

lol...thank god someone came up with the word: CENTRIFUGAL!.... I tried my best w/ limited knowledge...

Nothing is wrong with top gun. Why add a loop, i dont see how that could make the ride any better.Plus, the way the ride swings, that could result very badly. Several prototypes have been made of suspended coasters with inversions and none of them have worked. I have several videos put out in the mid 90's showing prototypes and models.

Could I see the videos?

They were produced by rhino productions and theyre old, but they are cool. I bought them at Blockbuster a long time ago.

YOu could easily have a barrel roll or some other smaller inversion but if you were to do a loop I just dont think it would happen the way they have the ride set up now. The best bet would be to have that thing in the station that make the cars not move from side to side but going into that 5 MPH sucks much less 40 mph.

The suspended prototypes with inversions had only corkscrews, and they were not full-scale models (from the videos that I have seen, so PKINickRoedl correct me if I'm wrong). Apparently, Arrow determined, probably for a number of reasons (safety, reliability, forces) that the inversions would not be possible, although they did originally plan for suspended coasters to have inversions.

^I agree 100%, the only inversions were corkscrews and as far as I know many models were made and one prototype with just a short piece of track and an inversion but it failed badly.

^Where was the prototype made? Is it possible to put some kind of computer system on the car and when it hits a sensor before the inverson, it some how locks up and prevents the car from swinging?

and if that sensor failed?

THe ride stops itself at brakes right before the inversion or the nearest brakes like every coaster does when a sensor fails.

I think your safest bet would be to just add like a "feed" that guides the train into a center peice that guides/prevents it from swinging. I think that TG is fine the way it is and that the costs of maintaining a suspended looper would be too much to bother with.

It sure would be nice though if PKI could add on to it and add inversions. It would be the only inverted suspended swinging coaster. I love Top Gun for its swinging features, but if you could add some inversons, make it longer, and give it theming it would be so much like a fighter plane.

^Where was the prototype made?

I think just in the back yard of Arrow Dynamics, Im sure they had a lot of space as at the time they were the leading designer of steel coasters. Kind of like how when S&S introduced the thrust air coaster, they built the prototype Thrust Air 2000 in their back yard.

Actually, to be honest, a loop on a suspended coaster is well within the boundries of physics to preform safely. The amount of force one would feel, would of course be greater than normal, but it is doable. Speed is a misconception in this particular case. Centrifugal force, (NOT CENTRIPUTAL, THAT DOES NOT EXIST), would be great enough to keep the cars suspended linearlly, i.e. not fall on their side. So to answer your question, a loop on Top Gun is technically possible, however, Arrow felt the need to simply not include one. Hope this all helps!

Uh you got that backwards. Centripetal force is real. It is latin for Center Seeking. It is a force that accelerates an object inward toward the center of a circle. Centrifugal force is the one that is used for convenience - but does not actually exist. There is no such thing as Centrifugal force. But there is Centripetal force. Centripetal force is what keeps you pushed down into your seat in a loop. INERTIA is what would keep the cars from flopping over. The cars tend to move in a straight line, but the track forces them to follow a bent path. So INTERTIA forces the cars outward, but the force acting against INERTIA is the CENTRIPETAL force...

Centrifugal force is an imaginary concept used to make things make more sense.

Actually, to be honest, a loop on a suspended coaster is well within the boundries of physics to preform safely. The amount of force one would feel, would of course be greater than normal, but it is doable. Speed is a misconception in this particular case. Centrifugal force, (NOT CENTRIPUTAL, THAT DOES NOT EXIST), would be great enough to keep the cars suspended linearlly, i.e. not fall on their side. So to answer your question, a loop on Top Gun is technically possible, however, Arrow felt the need to simply not include one. Hope this all helps! 

Uh you got that backwards. Centripetal force is real. It is latin for Center Seeking. It is a force that accelerates an object inward toward the center of a circle. Centrifugal force is the one that is used for convenience - but does not actually exist. There is no such thing as Centrifugal force. But there is Centripetal force. Centripetal force is what keeps you pushed down into your seat in a loop. INERTIA is what would keep the cars from flopping over. The cars tend to move in a straight line, but the track forces them to follow a bent path. So INTERTIA forces the cars outward, but the force acting against INERTIA is the CENTRIPETAL force...

Centrifugal force is an imaginary concept used to make things make more sense.

Oh jeeze... we always get the science buffs on here.

I think we can all agree that if TG were made longer and with inversions, it would quickly take the trophy as being the best ride in the park. To me, that whole swinging sensation really keeps me on edge, although I've ridden the ride countless times.

Coastercrazy is right. Arrow originally had planned for the suspended coasters to do loops and other inversions. They also discovered that it wasn't possible and had to scrap the idea.

Cannot argue with physics

I just wish those OTSHs were replaced. They're really not needed and they hurt my 6' 4" body.

^Where was the prototype made?

I think just in the back yard of Arrow Dynamics, Im sure they had a lot of space as at the time they were the leading designer of steel coasters. Kind of like how when S&S introduced the thrust air coaster, they built the prototype Thrust Air 2000 in their back yard.

Do you know of any pictures or can you tell me what the video of the prototype is called. Id love to see it. The suspended coaster is great and really simulates the feel of a fighter plane better than an inverted coaster from what ive heard, but man, if Top Gun was longer and had say a corcskrew and some theming........we can only imagine. However, if say they did find some way to do it it would probably get re-themed to something like Sky Captain...pssh.

*Information no longer needed, and it was wrong. Check out the videos on page three.