Firehawk

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Firehawk

Kings Island Location Mason, Ohio, USA Coordinates 39.342692°N 84.262683°W / 39.342692; -84.262683 Park section X-Base Status Defunct Operated May 26, 2007 to October 28, 2018 Replaced by Orion
Geauga Lake Name X-Flight Location Aurora, Ohio, USA Coordinates 41.350436°N 81.379825°W / 41.350436; -81.379825 Operated May 26, 2001 to September 17, 2006 Cost $15,000,000
Statistics
Manufacturer	Vekoma
Product	Flying Dutchman (1018m)
Type	Steel - Flying
Riders per train	24
Hourly capacity	1,430
Propulsion	Chain lift hill
Height	115 feet
Drop	103 feet
Top speed	50 mph
Length	3340 feet
Inversions	5
Duration	2:10
G-Force	4.3
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X-Flight at Geauga Lake in 2004.

Firehawk was a steel flying roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, USA. The ride originally operated at Geauga Lake as X-Flight from 2001 to 2006.

The ride was a Flying Dutchman installation from Vekoma. It was a clone of Batwing at Six Flags America.

History

On January 4, 2001, Six Flags Ohio announced that X-Flight would be added to the park. It would be a Flying Dutchman model built by Vekoma. In addition, the park would be adding a marine life section and would be renamed Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.

X-Flight was going to open on May 5, 2001, but this was delayed to May 26.

In 2004, Six Flags Worlds of Adventure was sold to Cedar Fair due to Six Flags' bankruptcy, and once again became Geauga Lake. Cedar Fair was hoping for Geauga Lake to return to a small family park, and sold many of its rides. Two years later in 2006, X-Flight was removed along with Superman Ultimate Escape. When X-Flight moved to Kings Island, the ride became known as Firehawk. Firehawk opened on May 26, 2007. Later that year, Geauga Lake closed down their amusement park section.

Kings Island began teasing a removal of one of their roller coasters in September 2018 at the start of the Halloween Haunt event. On September 27, 2018, the park announced that Firehawk would be closing permanently on October 28. In its 11-year run at Kings Island, Firehawk accumulated a total of 6.7 million riders. When it closed, the park stated that it had reached the end of its service life, and that replacement parts were very expensive. Cedar Fair's vice president, Greg Scheid, stated that they could only get 400 people on the ride per hour, far less than its intended capacity of 1400 riders per hour. It was subsequently torn down for scrap during the 2018-2019 off-season. Firehawk was replaced with the giga coaster Orion, which opened in 2020. The former photo booth was reused as the new coaster's entrance.

The entrance building was retained and remains in storage at the park as of 2021.

Design

Elements
Chain lift hill Lie to fly Horseshoe Fly to lie 66 foot tall vertical loop Lie to fly Double in-line twist Helix Fly to lie

Ride experience

At the start of the ride, riders are put at a face-up position. When the trains depart the station, they turn in the opposite direction. After this, the train makes a left turn and climbs the 115 foot tall chain lift hill. During the lift hill, riders can see other rides. At the top, the train switches to a flying position and dives 103 feet at 50 mph. Then, the train travels through a horseshoe. After this, riders switch to a face-up position, make a right turn and enter a 66 foot tall vertical loop. The train then switches to flying position and travels through some turns. Riders hit a double in-line twist, followed by a helix. After the helix, riders are switched to a face-up position as the train hits the final brake run.

Color scheme

When the coaster originally operated at Geauga Lake as X-Flight, it had a light green track and gray supports. When it moved to Kings Island as Firehawk, it was repainted with a red track.

Trains

2 trains with 6 cars per train. In each car, riders are arranged 4 across in a single row, for a total of 24 riders per train. One train was red and the other was yellow. Originally, there were three trains during the ride's first year at Geauga Lake, however, only two had been used. The third train became a parts donor for the first two. Some parts of Firehawk's trains are now being used as part donors for Nighthawk at Carowinds.

Images

Geauga Lake

• 

  The vertical loop on X-Flight

• 

Kings Island

• 

  Firehawk's entrance

• 

  Firehawk's yellow train returning to the station

External links

• 

  Firehawk on the Roller Coaster DataBase.

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