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ShoddyJuggernaut975 t1_iwpoef4 wrote

Yeah, no. I don't doubt it is possible, but good luck getting approval to build it or an insurance company to insure it.

It need not be as accurate and precise as the engineer thinks. All you have to do is design it such that it can land safely with a wide range for accuracy and precision. For instance, jump it into a sort of funnel that will guide it back onto the tracks.

I think it much more likely and feasible to have a coaster which rides on rails to "jump" with an overhead rail structure that guides and can support the cars if needed until they return to the regular rails. Build the cars to look like, well, cars, with a roof that the overhead wheels are hidden in. Have the "jump" located in a tunnel so that the overhead rails are hidden from outside observers. Have a means of hiding the overhead rails from the riders (poor lighting, distraction, fog?). Viola, a roller coaster which gives the sensation and visual impression of jumping while not actually doing so and being no more unsafe than any other roller coaster.

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pokeybill t1_iwqwogm wrote

Some other coasters achieve a similar effect by having sections of track do the jumping, e.g. Hagrids wild ride at Universal Orlando.

There is a section where you "fall" 20 feet or so, after rolling backwards into a spider cave. It's just a section of track the same size as the train on a big hinged platform with hydraulics, but you can't see any of that with the scenery and etc.

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