Flight Deck (California's Great America)

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Flight Deck

California's Great America
Location	Santa Clara, California, USA
Coordinates	37°23′53″N 121°58′18″W / 37.398095°N 121.971726°W / 37.398095; -121.971726
Park section	Orleans Place
Status	Operating since March 19, 1993
Rider height	54 inch minimum

Statistics

Manufacturer

Bolliger & Mabillard

Designer / calculations

Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH

Type

Steel - Inverted

Riders per train

28

Hourly capacity

1,380

Propulsion

Chain lift hill

Height

102 feet

Drop

91 feet

Top speed

50 mph

Length

2260 feet

Inversions

3

Duration

2:26

HELP

Flight Deck is a steel inverted roller coaster located at California's Great America in Santa Clara, California, USA. Opened in 1993, this ride was the second inverted roller coaster built by Swiss company Bolliger & Mabillard, the first being Batman The Ride at Six Flags Great America.

History

The ride opened on March 19, 1993 as Top Gun. For the 2008 season, it was renamed Flight Deck.

For the 2021 season, Flight Deck's queue line was upgraded. Fans would now remember the little details from the Top Gun version, with sets designed to look like the interior of an aircraft carrier and props on the outside like rotating radar dishes. Officials took advantage of the long off-season to restore of these little vignettes and once again set the scene of a working aircraft carrier.^[1]

Design

Elements
Chain lift hill Vertical loop Helix Zero-g roll Corkscrew Helix

Color scheme

For the 2014 season, the ride was repainted with red track and white supports.^[2] Previously, it was painted all black.

Trains

2 trains with 7 cars per train. In each car, riders are arranged 4 across in a single row, for a total of 28 riders per train.

Images

Top Gun's entrance
The command room
The security hallway
The station
The vertical loop
The corkscrew

References

↑ "8 New Things You’ll Find In California’s Great America When it Opens". Coaster101. May 14, 2021. https://www.coaster101.com/2021/05/14/8-new-things-youll-find-in-californias-great-american-when-it-opens/. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
↑ "Flight Deck Repaint! - The Coaster Kings". https://www.thecoasterkings.com/flight-deck-repaint/.

External links

Flight Deck on the Roller Coaster DataBase.

Articles on California's Great America

Coasters

Present	Demon Flight Deck Gold Striker Grizzly Lucy's Crabbie Cabbies Patriot Psycho Mouse RailBlazer Woodstock Express
Former	Greased Lightnin' Gulf Coaster Invertigo Stealth Whizzer

Other attractions

Present

Former

[1] "8 New Things You’ll Find In California’s Great America When it Opens". Coaster101. May 14, 2021. https://www.coaster101.com/2021/05/14/8-new-things-youll-find-in-californias-great-american-when-it-opens/. Retrieved January 19, 2022.

[2] "Flight Deck Repaint! - The Coaster Kings". https://www.thecoasterkings.com/flight-deck-repaint/.

[1]

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