Kings Island Central - Attractions

Adventure Express
Backlot Stunt Coaster
DiamondBack
Fairly Odd Coaster
FireHawk
Flight Deck
Flight of Fear
Invertigo
Little Bills Giggle Coaster
Rugrat's Runaway Reptar
Son of Beast
The Racer
The Beast
Vortex

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.:.Flight Deck

From 1981 until 1984, Kings Island was home to the first modern-day suspended coaster, The Bat. A design created by Arrow Dynamics, the suspended coaster featured cars hanging below the track, able to swing independently from the other cars in the train. Unfortunately The Bat, while safe, was too much trouble maintenance-wise, and was dismantled before the 1985 season.

Arrow Dynamics had long-since perfected the design when they were called upon to put together the 1993 addition for PKI, Flight Deck. Uniquely placed high on the side of a hill, the initial lift rises 98 ft. above the ground before the track turns and the trains barrel into a ravine, distinctly following the natural terrain of the coaster's location. Flying at speeds up to 51 mph, Flight Decktakes its guests on a dogfight through a half-mile of airspace before finishing the mission and banking hard back onto the aircraft carrier.

Although barely over a minute, this coaster is an intense ride throughout, and is a great coaster for weaning junior away from Hanna-Barbera. Be sure to check it out!

Central Tip: For an experience you can’t find on any other seat, sit in the front row of the train. You’ll notice a dramatic change in this coaster and will find a more thrilling ride that the other seats cannot provide.

Coaster Type: Steel, suspended, swinging
Seating Arrangement: 2-abreast, 28-passenger
Designer: Arrow
Manufacturer: Arrow
Opened to Public: April 9, 1993
.:.Statistics
Length: 2352 feet
Height: 98 feet
Drop: 98 feet
Inversions: 0
Speed: 51 mph
Duration: 1:30
Capacity: 1200 pph
.:.Additional Info
Average Wait: 5-15 minutes
Station Theming: John DeCuir

.:.Statistics

Coaster Type	Steel, suspended, swinging
Seating Arrangement	2-abreast, 28-passenger
Designer	Arrow
Manufacturer	Arrow
Opened to Public	April 9, 1993

Length	2352 feet
Height	98 feet
Drop	98 feet
Inversions	0
Speed	51 mph
Duration	1 minutes, 30 seconds
Capacity	1200pph

Average Wait	5-10 Minutes
Themed by	John DeCuir
Footer Depth	Up to 50 feet!
Amount of Concrete Used	2000 yards

Comments

Kayla :

Posted 203 days ago

hi i want to go on ALL of yur rides! they r so awesome.

derrike :

Posted 189 days ago

this ride has the most pointless name ever

Jackson :

Posted 178 days ago

What do you expect, Cedar Fair SUCKS at naming rides

Nick :

Posted 175 days ago

Cedar Fair had to get a name that was could stick with the Top Gun theme

Jackson :

Posted 174 days ago

I can Think of several good names.
Thunderbirds,
Jetstream
Afterburn
Just to name a few.

Patrick :

Posted 168 days ago

honestly, they could have left it the same. i mean seriously, FLIGHT DECK? you have got to be kidding me.
i love kings island but the same thing is going to happen with kings island as geauga lake. but it is going to take them twice as long because kings island is way amazing. i will give cedar fair 5 years with the park. just expect by then that 3 of the coasters are ripped out and many flat rides gone. the only thing they will do about it is increase ticket prices and cover it up with a gay corn hole toss.
cedar fair i hate you!
(but kings island is the best!)

Gary T :

Posted 161 days ago

I agree they should just do what Carowinds did and call top gun After Burner

Jackson :

Posted 145 days ago

Patrick, I also have a personal Vendetta twords Cedar Fair for closing Geagua Lake, but Geauga Lake was a park with lower attedendence, and it was a competidor of Cedar Point. Cedar Fair just HAD TO!!
You should be thankfull that They havent already started demolishing the Dipper.

Jeff S :

Posted 118 days ago

Personally, I like "Son of Bat", or how about "Top Thrill Swingster" ?

Jonathan :

Posted 114 days ago

This is a very nice easy-going ride.

Graem :

Posted 110 days ago

The thing that's sad about this ride is that the theming (i.e. the smoke and the song "Danger Zone" playing) is gone and that makes the ride almost boring, but IT'S STILL A GREAT RIDE!!!

M. :

Posted 108 days ago

This ride is well good but,nothing special

usa :

Posted 104 days ago

kings island i love kings island kings island ilove kings island

Drake :

Posted 92 days ago

I never been on the top gun coaster before but I want to go on it so badly

Josh :

Posted 88 days ago

this ride was my first "big kids" coaster, other then the racer.
its very thrilling, and in 2000, when the son of beast was there, it added a near collision part, which i actually thought that the ride had broken i was going to crash.

Mark :

Posted 76 days ago

going off of josh's thing about "big kids" coasters, consider yourself lucky for going on something easy for your first one. i rode the millenium force at cedar point for my first roller coaster ever. anyways, top gun was a really cool ride, kinda short but really fun

jammy :

Posted 76 days ago

i rode this coaster at night time by myself. it was really fun i like riding roller coasters at night time.

nick berry :

Posted 62 days ago

i had no time to ride it i beged my parents but it was time to leave i promise my self that i will ride next time i go!!

stanthemanlyman :

Posted 62 days ago

Hi i like going on this rollar coastar by myself because all my homies wont go on it with me u hear?

nick berry :

Posted 62 days ago

hello stanthemanlyman remeber me from firehawk?

Nathan :

Posted 58 days ago

First off, I LOVE this ride simply because it was my first big-kid ride! I rode it when I was four (the same year it came out, actually), and it was really popular back then. Nowadays, they barely get anybody wanting to ride it. Secondly, Flight Deck has been written on the station since it first opened, so CF was just being cheap and decided to just take away the "Top Gun" logo and nothing else. Lastly, CF knows that Kings Island is one of the most successful parks in the world, so they will not be tearing it down ever unless they are absolutely stupid!

Hayden Schunk :

Posted 55 days ago

I RODE FLIGHT DECK IT WAS A SWEET RIDE

coaster freak :

Posted 30 days ago

When I went to KI today this was my second coaster I rode because Son Of Beast is right becide it. I like the part at the end where u shake I like the drop to

Sara :

Posted 14 days ago

This one of my first bigger coasters and i cried the first time i rode it lol but now i love it!

Bretten Bailey :

Posted 14 days ago

Hi all,
I'm a Cedar Fair kid here, so I'm just responding to some things.
What happened to Geagua Lake will NOT happen to Kings Island. Kings Island is running REALLY REALLY well right now, and with the addition of the new coaster, nothing will happen to it like that. Geagua Lake suffered big time, and its not what Cedar Fair did, but what Six Flags did prior to their ownership.
2nd off, they did have to rename the ride while keeping it to the theming, and Flight Deck fits perfectly for 2 reasons....the Aircraft Carrier Flight deck, and when it comes to flying, "hugging the deck" (because the ride twists throughout the terrain).
Thunderbirds would not have worked due to copyrights on that (such as the movie Thunderbirds or the US Air Force Thunderbirds jet demonstration team and would not have fit the "Top Gun" theme!)
The one at California's Great America was also renamed "Flight Deck"
The one at Carowinds is called "Afterburn" but is a B&M Inverted (although it was initially supposed to be themed to Godzilla)
The one at Canada's Wonderland (although an SLC) is renamed "Flight Deck".
I'm sure we'll all live, and the great ride lives on!

nick berry :

Posted 8 days ago

i want to ride but i never get my chance

chimpy2000 :

Posted Yesterday

I never rode top gun, just flight deck.
About the names, cedar fair doesn't have naming rights to paramount movies. why did paramount sell kings island anyway?

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