Sky Rocket is a steel roller coaster located at Kennywoodamusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. It is the first coaster erected at the park since the renovation of the Steel Phantom into the Phantom's Revengein 2001; it also marks the return of a roller coaster that features inversions. It was completed in the late spring of 2010 and after a period of testing opened at the end of June. In 2017, it was announced that starting from the 2018 season, riders could have the option of using a virtual reality headset when riding. The Sky Rocket occupies the ground formerly held by the Turnpike near the entrance to the park; the Turnpike ride is expected to return to the park in the future in a modified state.
Ride experience
After exiting the station, the train turns 180 degrees. It then lines up with the launch motors and is accelerated from 0- in 3 seconds. It goes up a 95-foot top hat element into a cutback inversion, which is two half-corkscrews joined together in opposite directions so that the train exits moving 180 degrees from the direction it entered. It goes straight into a Zero-G Roll followed by a 180 degree upwards curve into the mid-course brake run. it comes almost to a complete stop only to plummet to the ground with a near-vertical drop. It goes into a low over-banked turn under the cutback, followed by a corkscrew over another piece of track, creating a head-chopper effect. It goes into another over-banked turn, followed by a series of S-curves to add to the excitement. It does one more 180 degree turn into a series of bunny hops going under the corkscrew. It does one final twist straight into the final brake run.
Trains
The trains are painted red and black with the "Sky Rocket" logo on the front, and each train has 2 cars. The ride also features a harness system, which locks riders in at the waist rather than the shoulders. This gives riders a sense of mobility not usually felt in coasters featuring inversions.
Notability
Sky Rocket is a powered launch coaster using linear synchronous motors, a first for Premier Rides designs. It is also one of only fourteen coasters in the world to feature a cutback inversion, at Disneyland Paris and SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge at Nickelodeon Universe are a few other examples. The ride has been SBNO since the early part of 2018. Park maintenance has confirmed they are having some issues with the generator and that they do not have an estimated date for reopening. On July 14th, 2019, Kennywood announced via a Facebook video that the Sky Rocket would once again be open to riders.
