Vertigo

Two little double-deckers fly one loop after another, accompanied by a sonorous rattling sound of the propellers. The heads of the onlookers excitedly follow the circular path commenting the aerial manoeuvres with "ahs" and "ohs". While one of the small aircrafts helplessly tailspins through the air, the other one accelerates to double speed, making the propellers rattling even louder. This theme park extravaganza lasts for about two minutes before the small planes prepare for landing.

It is an absolutely startling new attraction at Tivoli Copenhagen. The second delivery of a "Flying Fury" of Italian company Technical Park fits very well into the oriental area of the park. The -according to the manufacturer- world's first interactive ride can be completely controlled by the riders. The rotation of the large cantilever and the turning of the planes on horizontal and vertical axes can be controlled with a joystick on board of the flyer. So, how does it feel to fly free with the Vertigo? - We boarded for a test flight.

The aircrafts are modelled on the Gloster Gladiator, a fighter plane from the 30s. The camouflage sand-coloured flyers, like their model, are equipped with a two-bladed wooden airscrew, which rotates in the air stream, creating an authentic engine noise. The beams, where the little planes are connected to, are unflashy coloured in sky-blue with little cotton wool clouds on it. An oriental looking building thrones on the huge crossbeam on top of the middle column, where the mountings of the cantilevers are connected. The powerful motors hide in that building. Crumbling floor panels of the oriental building hang like icebound in the air, covering the middle column of Vertigo. Two movable staircases give access to the aircrafts for embarkation. Each plane holds four passengers; every plane has two joysticks for controlling the movements of the aircraft. The seats are very spacious and the OTSRs only tighten up at the lap. The upper body is held in place by safety belts over the shoulder, which is quite comfortable. See the picture on the left for instructions on how to control the aircraft.

As soon as the OTSRs are closed and the safety belts are tightened, the passengers have the choice of three different flight varieties. Two of the three choices are pre-defined flights, one forward and the other one backwards, which both run through the complete flight program without any possibility to control the movements with the joystick. These two-minute flight-programs were "flown" by a Tivoli employee and recorded. The third choice gives the complete control of the aircraft into your hands. The direction and speed of the rotation and the two turning axes of the plane can be freely controlled with the joystick. Additionally, the 5G Turbo can be ignited. The plane is moved back to the ground position and locked during the turbo ride, while the motor start to accelerate the beam up to 15 turns per minute. When you choose one of the two pre-recorded flights, the 5G Turbo already ignites at the beginning of the trip.

Real heaven-assailing pilots choose the flight without any autopilot, of course. With this choice, all four passengers have the possibility to create their own two minute flight experience. Except the lock of the position during the turbo mode, there are no limits for the daredevil pilots. The plane can be turned in every direction from the beginning, the large cantilever responds to every forth- and back movement of the joystick and with a neat steering, it can even be stopped on top position high up in the air. If you're a kamikaze pilot, you can even fly upside down through the station. While the rotation of the plane itself is very tight handled by the joystick movements, the cantilever reacts more slowly - due to physical limitations. It takes approximately 20 seconds to accelerate the plane to normal speed of 7.5 circles per minute. For untrained pilots - as most of the passengers assumingly are- the steering of the plane is a little bit difficult. Although the controlling of the plane couldn't be easier, it's still a challenge to create a smooth and enjoyable flight with three possible rotation axes at the same time.

During our visit at Tivoli Copenhagen, we had the opportunity to experience a ride with Tivoli's flagship pilot, Babar. He usually works as one of the ride operators and showed us, what a flight experience can be created with the free mode of Vertigo. Starting with a nice sightseeing flight over Copenhagen, going over to the perfect tailspin drop down to the ground, every possible manoeuvre of the plane was on the list. It was obvious, that Babar took a lot of flight hours on Vertigo. Unfortunately, you cannot book a flight with Babar as your pilot. It's up to you to put your hands on the control stick.

To put the small flyers into motion, an amazing amount of electrical energy is needed. Two 100 KW motors are mounted to every cantilever. When both planes ignite the 5G Turbo, an energy amount of 1.5 MW are used during 6 seconds. To curb the huge consumption of electrical energy, a system of energy recovery is used. When one of the cantilevers reduces its speed, the energy is redirected to the motor of the other cantilever. Not only on energy, but also on technical issues, Vertigo has a huge demand of attention. It takes two hours of checks and testing of the whole ride - every morning. To compare it with the adjacent floorless coaster "Daemonen": The coaster is ready to open within half the time.

With the new attraction, Tivoli Copenhagen will definitely have no crash landing. If you try your luck as a pilot on Vertigo, you will be amazed, how intense this attraction can be. The spinning at half speed is a lot of fun and a look at the skyline of Copenhagen upside down is unique. But when the 5G Turbo is ignited, it gets straight down to the nitty-gritty. Some passengers may will look pale-faced and be happy, when the ride slows down again. If you go backwards, the whole ride experience is even a little more intense and requires an impervious stomach. The ride has been very prettily integrated into the park. Nothing reminds of the "fairground look" of the prototype anymore. The only problem of the ride is the low capacity. Approximately only 120 passengers per hour can experience a 2 minute flight on Vertigo. Even with low attendance, long lines and waiting times are likely to occur. But you can book a flight ticket (a kind of a fastpass) with a given "departure time" through a booking machine near the entrance of the attraction. After all, the overall experience is worth even a long waiting time. If you visit Tivoli Copenhagen, don't miss your flight on Vertigo.