Soar through the Californian skies like a jet fighter pilot...
Soar through the Californian skies like a jet fighter pilot...
| Theme Park | California's Great America |
|---|---|
| Park Area | Orleans Place |
| Type | Rollercoaster |
| Audience | Thrillseekers |
| Opened | 19 March 1993 (as "Top Gun") 2007 ("Flight Deck" retheme) |
| Manufacturer | Bolliger & Mabillard |
| Model | Inverted Coaster |
| Height | 102 ft |
| Length | 2260 ft |
| Inversions | 3 |
| Max Speed | 50 mph |
| Duration | 1¾ minutes |
Flight Deck
Flight Deck at California's Great America is an inverted rollercoaster, and was the second of Bolliger & Mabillard's now popular Inverted Coaster model to be built.
The rollercoaster was opened in 1993 as the first major ride installation at the theme park by Paramount, which had purchased Great America's former owners Kings Entertainment Company the previous year.
Under the Paramount brand the ride was named Top Gun and themed around the hit movie franchise. After the sale of Great America to Cedar Fair, it was renamed and rethemed as Flight Deck in 2007.
Flight Deck rides similarly to other B&M Inverted coasters, with plenty of elements including a vertical loop, zero-G roll and corkscrew inversions together with steep drops and tightly banked turns to maintain riders' interest.
Pacing is a little slower than more recent Inverted Coasters though, with considerable gaps and long straight sections between many of the elements. The finale is one of the most impressive parts of the ride, with a long helix-like turn which skims across the surface of a lake.
Queueline at night
Flight Deck station
