Agawam, MA - Six Flags New England made an announcement this past week about their newest addition to the park coming in 2013, and it’s a big one. Next season, the Agawam, Massachusetts park will be adding in a record-breaking 385-foot tall SkyScreamer to replace the recently departed “Skycoaster” known as Taz’s Dare Devil Dive.

The New England addition should come as no major surprise, given the long list of Six Flags parks that have received SkyScreamer’s of varying sizes. Since 2011, Six Flags has installed SkyScreamer’s at La Ronde (150 ft), Six Flags St. Louis (150 ft), Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (150 ft), Six Flags Great Adventure (240 ft), and Six Flags Fiesta Texas (200 ft). Apparently the company wants to go for broke on this particular model, boosting the height by well over 100 ft to the 385 mark, making it the tallest ride of its kind in the world. SkyScreamer will steal the record from the Funtime Star Flyer ride at Prater Park in Austria by a mere 2 ft, but it’s enough to claim the title. John Winkler, president of Six Flags New England, says “We call it the world’s biggest swing set” according to MassLive.com

Theme Park Tourist has reported that because of the ride’s extreme height, the park has had to apply to the Agawam zoning board for permission to build the ride above the 200-foot height limit in the area. MassLive reports that that park has already gotten approved site plans and anticipates no issues from the FAA in getting permission to build over the normal height limit. They hope to begin construction later this year.

Though the SkyScreamer has become Six Flags “default” swing ride, whereas Cedar Fair has stuck to Mondial’s Windseeker, that road has not come without its issues. Around this time last year, Six Flags found a technical issue with the ride at Six Flags St. Louis, forcing them to close the ride and its sister at Discovery Kingdom as a precaution. Funtime, the ride’s manufacturer, sent engineers to work on the ride, and while it was never really reported what the problem was, both rides were up and running with little down time.

According to Winkler, this is not the last Star Flyer set to be installed either. He told MassLive.com that there would be another installed, but could not disclose any more information for proprietary reasons. Stay tuned for another Six Flags SkyScreamer announcement in the future.