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Air

Alton Towers
2002 - 2015

Air was the world’s first flying rollercoaster designed by John Wardley, the ride gives the sensation of flying like a bird around the course. Adopting the superman position you will learn to fly as you start your adventure by going up a 20 meter high lift hill, after making your way up to the top you will then take your first drop getting you used to the sensation of flying. After the pre drop you will experience speeds of up to 75 km/h along with GeForces of up to 3G. The ride lasts a duration of three minutes and nine seconds making it the longest rollercoaster in the park.


Distinct from the other rides in the area Air takes a more relaxed theme rather than aliens and monsters. When the ride first opened to the public in March 2002 the ride had many teething problems just like any other worlds first! The rides designed John Wardley was on site during the first month of the ride being operational to help out with these problems, one problem the ride experienced was the highly technical tilting mechanism along with many other unknown errors. Unlike many other coasters at the time Air had a duel loading station meaning the rides capacity was high making Air a great ride to go on during busy days due to its single rider queue line and its high capacity off 1500 people per hour!