When we heard that a drone pilot had captured some footage of a roller coaster, we assumed we’d be looking at some run-of-the-mill shots from way above the ride, and not a lot else.
What we didn’t expect was a stunning spectacle as awesome as it is thrilling, with said drone speeding close to the coaster’s car as it hurtles around the track.
Watching the video (above), it becomes immediately apparent that this is no ordinary pilot at the controls, but instead someone akin to a drone racer at the top of their game. Otherwise, some of those moves would be simply impossible.
The daredevil flight is the work of crack drone pilot Viggo Koch, who recently visited Liseberg Amusement Park in the Swedish city of Gothenburg to film his impressive feat.
It’s important to note that Koch worked closely with officials at the amusement park when making his video of the Helix ride, and therefore had the necessary permission to put his bird in the sky. Indeed, the flight took place before the park opened, minimizing the risk to the public should one of his tricky maneuvers have gone awry.
The setup
The footage was captured using a GoPro Hero 7 Black action camera attached to Koch’s custom-built drone, which also carried a Foxeer Falkor first-person-view camera.
To see precisely where he was flying the drone, Koch used a set of Fat Shark HD3 Goggles with the ImmersionRC RapidFIRE 5.8 GHz Module and VAS 3-turn Helical Antennas, while to pilot it he used a FrSky Q X7 Controller with a TBS Crossfire Micro TX long-range radio-control link.
The results are, we’re sure you’ll agree, very impressive. Much like you see in regular drone races, Koch’s flying machine weaves in and out of the rides’s support structure and takes some pretty sharp turns as it tracks the coaster’s car at high speed.
At 1,381 meters, Liseberg’s Helix ride is the longest roller coaster in Scandinavia. The two-minute ride hits a top speed of 62 mph (100 kph), taking riders upside down seven times, with its 4.3 G-force ensuring a testing time for any stomachs containing a recently consumed meal.
