SkyLoop

SkyLoop
Sky Wheel at Skyline Park in Germany.
Status	In Production
First manufactured	2004
No. of installations	10
Manufacturer	Maurer Söhne
Vehicle type	X-Car
Vehicles	2
Riders per vehicle	6
Rows	6
Riders per row	2
Restraint Style	Lap bar
SkyLoop at RCDB

SkyLoop is a type of steel roller coaster manufactured by Maurer Söhne. There are currently 10 SkyLoops operating worldwide; 9 of which are identical XT 150 models with only one being the extended, XT 450 model. The first SkyLoop to open was Sky Wheel in 2004 (XT 150) while the first and only XT 450, Abismo opened in 2006. There are also 3 other models available; XT 900, Custom, and Launch, those have not been built yet.

The world's first SkyLoop, Sky Wheel, opened in 2004 and is currently located at Skyline Park in Germany. Sky Wheel is a XT 150 model. This would continue to be the only model of the SkyLoop to be built until 2006 when Abismo at Parque de Atracciones de Madrid in Spain was built. Abismo is a SkyLoop XT 450 (an extension to the XT 150) and continues to be the only XT 450 built until nowadays. Since then, only XT 150's have been built around the world. Maurer Söhne also have 3 additional models of the SkyLoop; XT 900 (extension to XT 150), Custom, and Launch (uses the XT 150 layout where the train gets launched up the lift hill), although until nowadays none have been built.

Currently, the SkyLoop consists of 5 models; XT 150, XT 450, XT 900, Custom, and Launch.

SkyLoop XT 150 is a short, 492-foot-long (150 m) roller coaster that reaches a maximum height of 171 feet (52 m) (the actual track reaches 164 feet (50 m)) and a top speed of 65 miles per hour (105 km/h). This model also has two inversions and uses a single train featuring 2 X-Cars that seat 6 people each.

After the train departs from the station, it immediately begins to climb the vertical (90 degree) lift hill. Upon reaching the top of the lift, the train turns 45 degrees backwards putting the train and its riders in an upside down position. Then, as the train exits the lift, it goes through a heartline roll before going down the only drop in the layout of the roller coaster. The train speeds through the station going back up the lift. Once it loses momentum the train then returns down passing through the station again. It then proceeds back up the drop and partially into the heartline roll before once again losing momentum and returning to the ground. After passing the station for the third time, the train is stopped near the top of the lift hill. It is then lowered back down to the station where the next riders board the train. The XT 150 has the option of sending riders around a second cycle at the operator's discretion. When the train stops on the lift hill at the end of the ride, instead of lowering slowly back to the station, the chain will raise the car up and send it through the ride again.