Previous Article Next Article

Ferris wheels grow to new heights to attract the daring

By Layer 8 on Mon, 03/03/08 - 12:54pm.

With names like the Steel Phantom, Kingda Ka and , wild and crazy roller-coasters tend to suck up all the press but there are a few ferris wheels springing up outside the US, one that officially opened this weekend, that sound like they could scare the pants off people by their shear magnitude.

At 541ft., about 42 stories, the Singapore Flyer officially opened March 1, can carry about 800 passengers and its 30 minute ride costs about $20. From its 28 fully air-conditioned and UV protected capsules riders can see, depending on the weather, parts of Malaysia and Indonesia some 30 miles away from the top of the wheel's arc.

Each capsule is equipped with features video broadcast, closed circuit television surveillance cameras and a wireless local area network intercom system for digital transmission between each capsule and the base control station in the terminal building, according to developers. 3Com provided Gigabit Ethernet switches and routers for the wheel and surrounding control systems.

The Singapore Flyer will hold the tallest ferris wheel in the world crown for only another few month as the 607ft.-high Great Dubai Wheel opens later this year. And in 2009 the 682ft.-high Beijing Great Wheel will blow away both of them.The Great Dubai wheel has 36 capsules, each of which can accommodate 40 people or about 1,440 people at a time. Each revolution of the wheel, like the Flyer and the Beijing wheel will take about 30 minutes.

The Beijing Great Wheel can carry 1,920 people and will offer views of The Great Wall of China over 40 miles away. Berlin meanwhile is working on a 606ft Ferris wheel and in the US, Orlando is said to be building a 400ft wheel.

The Great Wheel company is behind most of these huge ferris wheel projects.

Layer 8 in a box

Check out these other hot topics:

Taskforce seizes $76 Million in counterfeit Cisco network hardware

IBM optical chip zips huge files using little power

Va. Supreme Court upholds first US felony SPAM conviction

DARPA spends $38 million on first phase of virtual satellite network

Software, portal target, predict terrorist behaviour

FBI warns: Hitman scam back with a vengeance

What are the 14 greatest engineering challenges for the 21st century?

Tags

• General discussions
• Great Dubai Wheel
• Kingda Ka
• Millennium Force
• Singapore Flyer
• Steel Phantom