Flight of Fear (previously known as The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear) is an enclosed launched roller coaster at two Cedar Fair parks - Kings Dominion and Kings Island. Both locations opened in 1996 and were the world's first roller coasters to feature a linear induction motor (LIM) launch.
Video Flight of Fear
History
Kings Dominion began teasing the new attraction in the summer of 1995 by cutting a "crop circle" in a nearby field which featured a UFO, the face of an alien and the letter "F" written in binary. Premier Rides and Paramount's Kings Dominion performed the first successful launch of the ride on April 11, 1996 at 5:33 p.m., proving that linear induction motors could be used to accelerate a roller coaster train using magnetic fields with enough force to complete a full circuit. The launch requires 3 megawatts of electric power, which caused frequent voltage sags to neighboring utility customers. Square D by Schneider Electric developed a complex solid-state capacitor bank to reduce the load on the electric utility.
Both ride locations held a media day on June 17, 1996 and opened to the public as The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear on June 18, 1996. When the rides opened, both had the fastest acceleration of any roller coaster in the world. The attraction was awarded top honors for Major Theme/Amusement Park Ride/Attraction and Technology Applied to Amusements at the November 1995 International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions trade show.
The ride was originally themed to the television show The Outer Limits, but due to the license for using the name and theming of The Outer Limits expired, the ride's name changed to Flight of Fear at the start of the 2001 season.
The Kings Dominion location was closed for much of the 2006 season, only reopening on August 18, 2006 after the park was purchased by Cedar Fair. At Kings Island, the ride is located in the X-Base subsection of Coney Mall. For years it was the only ride on the east side of The Racer. With the addition of Firehawk in the 2007, the area took on a theme center on experimental flight and propulsion systems. During the 2007 season, the ride was equipped with on-board video cameras that recorded riders with the option to purchase the video at the ride exit. These cameras were removed at the end of the season.
Premier Rides built other LIM Catapult models from 1996 to 1999, including Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America, Poltergeist at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and Crazy Cobra at Discoveryland. The two Flight of Fear rides are the only indoor versions. All share a similar layout and have the same technical specifications.
Maps Flight of Fear
Ride experience
Layout
Riders are launched from the station, accelerating from 0 to 54 mph in four seconds down a 220-foot launch tunnel. The ride emerges into a "spaghetti bowl" of track inside of the 110-foot tall ride building. Following the launch, the train immediately enters a cobra roll, which contains two of the ride's four inversions. The ride layout continues with a sidewinder and multiple turns. After passing through the mid-course brake run, riders spiral downward to the left, continuing to maneuver through the twisted ride structure. The train picks up speed as riders dive at the floor of the building, finally passing through a corkscrew before arriving at the final brake run.
Trains
The trains originally featured over-the-shoulder restraints. For the 2001 season, three of the four trains which came with the ride were converted to use individual ratcheting lap bar restraints instead of the original over-the-shoulder restraints which caused riders to experience significant headbanging. Kings Dominion operates three trains with five cars, while Kings Island runs only two trains with five cars. The ride originally ran with six-car trains.
Theme
After the licensing for the use of The Outer Limits based theming expired, all references to the television show were removed for the 2001 season. The ride's queue still contains UFO-related theming, although it is no longer based on a television show or film.
The queue building is designed to represent a military installation, and has a sign outside informing riders, "You are entering a government security zone. Area under constant surveillance." The queue transitions through several distinct stages. Riders enter the building through a "Press Area", which includes queue switchbacks under an awning. They are then led down a narrow tunnel into the interior of the hangar, where a mockup of one-half of a UFO appears to be sitting in the middle of the room through the use of mirrors. A video is played over multiple screens that explains how the UFO was recovered not far from the park. While some base personnel are running tests on the spacecraft to determine its origin, others are convinced that it is a hoax and decide to allow the public inside the hanger to view it. The hanger also features color and strobe lighting effects which are synchronized with the video. At Kings Dominion, much of the hanger has been converted into a space for the "Lockdown" Haunt maze, although the much of the UFO theming remains. The queue winds around inside of the hangar before entering the underside of the UFO up a short flight of stairs.
The inside of the saucer features a display with alien markings and various sound effects. The queue makes a right turn and then sharp left turn into the boarding area. The loading and unloading stations are separate, so riders in the loading side of the building see an empty train returning. The loading station features "cryotubes" containing mannequins dressed in the park's souvenir clothing and wrapped in plastic to look as if they have been captured by the aliens. While the train is loading and waiting to be dispatched, a sound effect imitating a jet engine warming up is played. As the train is dispatched, take off sound effect is played and the lights in the launch tunnel previously flickered in a wave pattern. The two stations are the only parts of the ride which have much lighting; most of the ride is in the dark. As such, the ride buildings are also used to store trains and parts for other rides; the building at the Kings Island location formerly held the trains for the now-defunct stand-up coaster, King Cobra, and still holds some of the seats removed from The Crypt.
Some of the theming includes hidden references to real places and names. The outside of the hangar is marked with the number 18, a reference to Hangar 18 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the Roswell crash site evidence is supposedly stored. A sign above the entrance to the queue reads "Fort Kinzel Press Area," referring to the former Cedar Fair Entertainment Company CEO, Richard Kinzel. The area was renamed "Fort Zimmerman Press Area" after the retirement of Richard Kinzel, now referencing Cedar Fair's Chief Operating Officer and Kings Dominion's former General Manager Richard Zimmerman. This sign has been removed at Kings Island.
Incidents
Kings Island
- At approximately 2:45 p.m. on June 2, 2014, emergency crews received a report of a fire at the ride. Smoke from an overheated electrical motor had filled the ride building. Two of the eighteen people exposed to the smoke were treated at the scene. Emergency crews cleared the building around 3:45 p.m.
- Smoke coming from a panel outside of the ride building was reported at 10:35 a.m. on June 14, 2014. The panel was the only part of the building to suffer damage; the ride was unaffected, with no flames or injuries reported. The ride later reopened around 12:15 p.m.
References
External links
- Flight of Fear page at Kings Dominion
- Flight of Fear page at Kings Island
- Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion at the Roller Coaster DataBase
- Flight of Fear at Kings Island at the Roller Coaster DataBase
- COASTER-net Ride Gallery
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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