FOR THE RIDE.

• Author: PETERSON, ERIC
• Position: Skycoaster Inc. manufactures amusement park ride - Brief Article - Company Profile - Statistical Data Included

LONGMONT COMPANY SENDS PEOPLE FLYING

EACH SUMMER AT DENVER'S SIX FLAGS ELITCH Gardens, 100,000 visitors experience flight. On the park's XLR8R thrill ride, a winch and cable tow these harnessed fliers" to the summit of a 150-foot tower. Then, following a brief moment of toe-curling anticipation -- WHOOSH! -- riders scream earthward, flooded with adrenaline.

After a few seconds of free fall, the aviators veer into the natural arc of the support cables, but they hit speeds of 70 miles per hour -- pulling 2.5 Gs of force -- before their safe return to solid ground a few minutes later.

XLR8R is the brainchild of Longmont's Skycoaster Inc., which calls its ride the Skycoaster.

Launching the business in 1992 as a bungee-jumping operator, the company's founders -- Bill Jackson, Ken Bird, and Bill Kitchen -- were all skydiving fanatics.

"We wanted to let people experience what we were feeling in skydiving," explained Jackson, now Skycoaster's general manager.

Skycoaster migrated from the high-liability world of bungee jumping to thrill-ride design and construction within months of its incorporation.

"We lined up with our contractors -- our tire people, our winch people, all of those people -- and kind of picked the brains of each one of them and put it together," Jackson said.

After an engineer rubber-stamped the design, the company installed its first Skycoaster in Panama City, Fla. in 1993. Now, 97 Skycoasters operate in 13 countries. "We're in places like Kuwait, Israel, Argentina," Jackson said.

When an order comes in, a Nebraska-based contract manufacturer builds the towers and ships them to the amusement-park customer. The park pours a foundation and erects the towers, at which point Skycoaster sends employees to install the moving parts and to train operators.

In 1998, Vancouver, B.C.-based ThrillTime Entertainment International Inc. acquired Skycoaster and the ride's patents. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Skycoaster still calls Longmont home, handling the day-to-day operations out of its Colorado office.

In the convoluted world of amusement park economics, the Skycoaster is a pretty safe bet. Its total price tag is a modest $200,000 to $1.5...