Superman - Ride of Steel

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Superman - Ride of Steel
Loading station and lift hill at Darien Lake.
Location	1. Darien Lake 2. Six Flags New England 3. Six Flags America
Type	Steel roller coaster
Status	Open
Opened	1. 05/15/1999 2. 05/05/2000 3. 05/13/2000
Manufacturer	Intamin AG
Model	Hypercoaster
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	208 feet
Drop	1. & 3. 205 feet 2. 221 feet
Length	5400 feet
Max speed	1. & 3. 73 mph 2. 77 mph
Inversions	0
Duration	2:02
Capacity	1100 riders per hour
Cost	$12,000,000 USD
Superman - Ride of Steel at RCDB
Pictures of Superman - Ride of Steel at RCDB

Superman - Ride of Steel is a roller coaster that exists at:

Darien Lake, in Darien, New York
Six Flags New England, in Agawam, Massachusetts
Six Flags America, in Baltimore/Washington, D.C.

While all three of the Superman - Ride of Steel coasters feature identical Superman theming, the Six Flags New England version is unique by not only being taller and faster, but also offering many more elements such as two underground tunnels filled with mist, an overbanked turn, more airtime-filled camelbacks, and interlocked helices. It even combines two separate designs: the first half is an out-and-back, while the second half is a twister. The Six Flags America and Six Flags Darien Lake versions are smaller, and are mirror images of each other, offering a fairly straight-forward out-and-back design with several large camelback hills and two helices each. The lift hills of all three coasters stand 208 feet tall, although the coaster at New England boasts a first drop of 221 feet (because it goes underground) at a 72-degree angle, and reaches a blazing 77 mph. The first drops on Six Flags Darien Lake and Six Flags America's are only 205 feet at 68 degrees, allowing for a slightly slower top speed of 73 mph, although those coasters incorporate over-water elements. At America, the bottom of the first drop and the exit from the second helix are both over a small pond, and at Darien Lake several of the coaster's elements travel over a lake. Six Flags New England's coaster does not incorporate any over-water elements, although the entire coaster stands along the shore of the Connecticut River.

[edit] Accidents

An almost-fatal accident occurred on the Darien Lake version in 1999 when a passenger was thrown from the train on one of the final hills. As a result, the park installed standard seat-belts and imposed further restrictions on passenger size and weight.

In 2001, one of the trains at New England failed to stop at the ride's ending because of a severe brake leak, and collided with the other train in the loading station, injuring 22 people.

Another accident occurred on the New England coaster in 2004 when a man was thrown from his seat during the last turn of the ride and was killed. See roller coaster safety and Incidents at Six Flags parks for more information. As a result of this incident, the parks installed extra metal bars encasing the riders legs.

[edit] Awards

Six Flags America:

Golden Ticket Awards: Best Steel Coaster
Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Ranking	-	20	16	13	12	18	23

Six Flags Darien Lake:

Golden Ticket Awards: Best Steel Coaster
Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Ranking	6	6	10	9	13	13	12

Six Flags New England:

Golden Ticket Awards: Best Steel Coaster
Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Ranking	10	2	2	1	2	2	1

Roller coasters at Six Flags New England
Batman - the Dark Knight - Cyclone - Flashback - The Great Chase - Mind Eraser – Mr. Six's Pandemonium - Poison Ivy's Tangled Train - Superman: Ride of Steel - Thunderbolt