Designed by renowned Spanish engineer, Leonardo Torres Quevedo, the Whirlpool Aero Car has been soaring the Niagara Gorge since 1916. The antique cable car is suspended from six sturdy cables and offers spectacular views of the swirling Niagara Whirlpool and the Class 6 whitewater rapids of the Niagara River.
Although the Whirlpool Aero Car travels between two points on the Canadian shore, riders of this historic cable car actually cross the international border line between Canada and the United States a total of four times each trip due to the way the river elbows.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo was a Spanish civil engineer who created algebraic machines, remote control devices, dirigibles, and the world’s first computer. His Aero Car represented a new type of aerial cable way that he called a “transbordador”. Officially opened on August 8, 1916, the Whirlpool Aero Car is the only one of its kind in existence.
The huge volume of water rushing over Niagara Falls is crushed into the narrow Gorge, creating the Whirlpool Rapids. The Niagara Whirlpool is formed at the end of the rapids where the gorge turns abruptly counterclockwise. The river’s abrupt change of direction creates one of the world’s most mesmerizing natural phenomenons.
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