The one at <=Kennywood=< at least also has an airbag and a shock absorber under each tub between the sweep and the tub. The ride is actually more violent coming off the top of the ramp than it is hitting the track at the bottom.
Flying Coaster, so those snubbers are hydraulic? I suppose it makes sense, but I always expected that they were pneumatic.
Someone once told me that the Flying Coaster (designed by Norman Bartlett and built by Aeroaffiliates) was constructed on a modified Fly-O-Plane center. I can believe that, given that the original drive system used an Eyerly-style countershaft with belt drive running a pair of Eyerly-style half-differentials, and, again in Eyerly style, those half-differentials had a large drive chain wrapped around them and around the center column to run the ride. I never understood why it had two drive pinions.
Last season, Kennywood updated theirs with a pair of electric VFD motors which drive the pinions directly, eliminating the differentials and the counter-shaft entirely, and also giving the ride a more precise speed control and braking profile. It still uses the ramp as the functional holding brake, though.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.