Qualla: F.L.Y. https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:34 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/h/b/f-l-y-roller-coaster-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: F.L.Y. https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster F.L.Y.: Introduction https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster/ Photo credit Rémih, CC BY-SA 4.0. You board sitting upright like any normal coaster, and then the seat rotates you forward. Suddenly the sky is below you and the track is overhead, and Phantasialand's F.L.Y. launches you face-down through the smokestacks and chimneys of a city that does not exist. Rookburgh is a fictional steampunk metropolis somewhere near 1920s Berlin, and for two minutes you are a test pilot in its Airrail Company - the world's first flying launched coaster, threading at 48 miles per hour through buildings that were constructed around the track rather than beside it.

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Image: Rémih | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/h/b/f-l-y-roller-coaster-wp/u1hb-f-l-y-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full F.L.Y.: Built from the Bottom Up https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster/ Photo credit Stefan Senger, CC BY-SA 4.0. Most roller coasters get a plot of land, then an architect figures out where the queue and station go. Rookburgh was the opposite. Phantasialand had a tight piece of ground where an old IMAX simulator had stood, and they wanted to fit a hotel, a coaster, and an entire themed dist...

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Image: Stefan Senger | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/h/b/f-l-y-roller-coaster-wp/u1hb-f-l-y-built-from-the-bottom-up.mp3 0:06 2 full F.L.Y.: The Hotel and the Coaster Share a Skeleton https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster/ Photo credit JensVdL, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Hotel Charles Lindbergh, named for the historic aviator, was not built next to F.L.Y. It was woven into it. The coaster's spiral dive happens around the hotel's brick facade. Its near-misses sweep within arm's length of guest-room windows. From inside the rooms you can hear t...

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Image: JensVdL | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/h/b/f-l-y-roller-coaster-wp/u1hb-f-l-y-the-hotel-and-the-coaster-share-a-skeleton.mp3 0:06 3 full F.L.Y.: Why Prone Position Is Hard https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster/ Photo credit Stefan Senger, CC BY-SA 4.0. Flying coasters were invented in the early 2000s, and they came with a problem nobody could solve elegantly: how do you load passengers face-down? On older models, riders boarded upright, then a complex restraint flipped them into the prone position before launch, and reversed th...

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Image: Stefan Senger | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/h/b/f-l-y-roller-coaster-wp/u1hb-f-l-y-why-prone-position-is-hard.mp3 0:06 4 full F.L.Y.: Two Launches and a World Record https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster/ Photo credit Stefan Senger, CC BY-SA 4.0. F.L.Y. has two launches. The first sends the prone train across the cutback turn and through a corkscrew inversion. The track then dives below the guest pathways, encircles the descending queue stairs underground, and enters the second launch through a dark tunnel. The second lau...

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Image: Stefan Senger | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/h/b/f-l-y-roller-coaster-wp/u1hb-f-l-y-two-launches-and-a-world-record.mp3 0:06 5 full F.L.Y.: The Opening Nobody Saw https://qualla.com/f-l-y-roller-coaster/ Photo credit Stefan Senger, CC BY-SA 4.0. Rookburgh and F.L.Y. soft-opened to the public on September 17, 2020. Three years of construction, an animated trailer released in November 2019, a fake newspaper distributed to build mystery - and then COVID. Capacity was capped, masks were mandated, the great unveiling Phantasi...

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Image: Stefan Senger | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/1/h/b/f-l-y-roller-coaster-wp/u1hb-f-l-y-the-opening-nobody-saw.mp3 0:06 6 full