Take to the skies in an F-14 fighter jet...
Take to the skies in an F-14 fighter jet...
Theme Park | Canada's Wonderland |
---|---|
Park Area | Grande World Exposition of 1890 |
Type | Rollercoaster |
Audience | Thrillseekers |
Opened | 1995 (as "Top Gun") 2008 ("Flight Deck" retheme) |
Manufacturer | Vekoma |
Model | Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC) Standard (689m) |
Height | 109 ft |
Length | 2261 ft |
Inversions | 5 |
Max Speed | 50 mph |
Duration | 2 minutes |
Inverting over the control tower
Flight Deck is Canada's Wonderland's fighter jet themed inverted coaster which has been at the park since 1995.
The rollercoaster is supposed to simulate the feeling pilots get flying in an F-14 fighter jet, pulling various high speed manoeuvres and subjecting riders to large positive G-forces. Surrounding the ride are aeroplane related theming elements including an aircraft hangar, military trucks and spinning radar towers.
When it opened in 1995 the ride was named Top Gun and featured various references to the hit Tom Cruise movie. However, after Canada's Wonderland was sold by Paramount Parks to Cedar Fair, the rights to use the film's intellectual property were lost. The Top Gun branding was removed, and the ride was renamed Flight Deck in 2008.
The ride hardware comes from Dutch manufacturer Vekoma and is one of their infamous Suspended Looping Coaster models, which has riders sitting on inverted ski-lift style trains that hang underneath the track. The Canada's Wonderland installation is the 689m Standard variant, which features five inversions including a rollover, sidewinder and double inline twist.
In common with most Vekoma SLCs, Flight Deck is very rough and gives an uncomfortable ride experience, with riders' heads repeatedly slammed against the hard over the shoulder restraints as the train rattles and shuffles around the track.
Flight Deck is at least nicely themed, but actually riding it cannot be recommended: those who dare to will spend most of their time onboard counting down the seconds until it comes to an end and their torture is over. If this really was like flying in a fighter jet, the air force would have run out of pilots years ago.
Inverted rollercoaster
Aircraft hangars
The queueline passes through a hangar
Themed station with control tower
Vekoma SLC train
Passing a model aircraft
The ride's old Top Gun sign