New Roller Coaster in Britain Tears Limbs Off Test Dummies

Set to open this spring at Britain's Thorpe Park, the ride has also made pilots in Britain's Royal Air Force a little shaky...and they fly fighter jets.

The Swarm is one of several "wing coasters" making their way into theme parks around the world including Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN, Hershey Park, in Hershey, PA, and Six Flags Great America in Chicago.

The difference between the wing coaster and the classic roller coaster is the placement of the seats. The classic coaster essentially has the seats placed above the wheels that hold onto the track. As you'll see in the videos below, on a winged coaster, the floorless seats sit to the left and right of track like, well...wings.

Scheduled to open later this month according to Time Magazine's website, after initial test runs with crash test dummies resulted in several "riders" returning with missing limbs, Thorpe Park asked jet fighter pilots to give the ride a spin. When describing the ride to Britain's The Metro, pilot Mark Cutmore used terms like "gut-wrenching" and "eye watering" to explain the experience. This from a guy who flies fighter jets for a living!

The Swarm features an initial 127 foot inverted drop and reaches a maximum speed of 62 mph. By the sound of it, the speed isn't what gets you, it's the seemingly near misses with buildings, a flaming fire truck, and spinning helicopter blades as you ride through a set designed to look post-apocolyptic.

Personally I'm not a big fan of heights, but I do like a good coaster ride. Fortunately we have some good one's about 45 minutes east of us at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari including my personal favorite, The Voyage.

Check out the test run videos below of The Swarm, then let me know if you'd be willing to give it shot if you had the opportunity.

[Sources: Time, USA Today, & The Metro]