Flight Deck at California’s Great America is one of the oldest Bolliger & Mabillard
inverted coasters, but it’s also among the most powerful.
This 30 year-old ride is lightly themed to planes and it fittingly piles on the Gs, but
with Great America announcing they’ll close in the next few years, is the end near for
this ride?
Find out in this review of Flight Deck.
Bolliger and Mabillard wowed the coaster industry in 1992 with Six Flags Great America’s Batman
the Ride.
This was the world’s first inverted coaster, which placed riders beneath the track.
This orientation had been used previously for suspended coasters that could swing side-to-side,
but the B&M inverts had the cars fixed relative to the wheels, meaning they could perform
wilder maneuvers such as inversions.
Batman was extremely well-received and B&M’s phone was ringing off the hook.
The Great America in Santa Clara, California used to be a sister park to the Gurnee, Illinois
park when they were both owned by Marriott.
That’s why both parks feature similar entrances and received similar attractions over the
years such as Carousel Columbia, Whizzer, and Demon.
While the two parks were no longer owned by the same company by the 1990s, the California
park would coincidentally add a B&M invert just one year after Batman opened.
The Santa Clara park was acquired by Paramount during the 1992 season and renamed Paramount’s
Great America.
The new owners wanted to make an immediate splash, so they announced the west coast’s
first inverted coaster for the 1993 season in Top Gun.
The ride would feature just 2260 feet or 690 meters of track, making it one of the shortest
inverts in the world.
The Vekoma SLCs technically have just a hair more track for reference.
Top Gun was named after the 1986 film of the same name.
And it was the perfect theme for an invert.
These coasters were designed to mimic the sensations of flight between the rapid inversions
and strong positive Gs.
While the layout itself had zero theming, some visuals were placed in the queue line
and boarding area.
Giant murals with fighter planes and aircraft carriers were added.
After Paramount sold their parks to Cedar Fair in 2006, this coaster lost the Top Gun
branding and was given a much more generic name in Flight Deck.
These murals are still there to this day, but the sun has really faded them out.
Top Gun originally had a jet black paint scheme.
For the 2014 season, the ride was painted scarlet red.
That’s the same shade of red that the San Francisco 49ers use and 2014 was the year
that team moved into their new stadium next to Great America.
It was a nice tie-in.
Especially since Flight Deck is one of the park’s most visible rides from the parking
lot.
The ride’s first half pokes above the fence-line.
The ride still makes quite the impression from within the park.
The zero-G roll is framed above the main entrance.
Then the exit path showcases this ride’s beloved finale, which features a corkscrew
and helix above the water.
The one baffling thing to me is that Flight Deck has a completely uncovered station.
It’s rare to see for a major coaster, but it’s a practice a few California parks have
used over the years, presumably because of how little rain the state gets.
Despite being nearly 30 years old, Flight Deck is still one of Great America’s more
popular attractions.
It has better capacity than the park’s other headlining coasters, but it can still develop
a 30-plus minute line on busier days.
Flight Deck regularly runs two trains, each seating a total of 28 riders across 7 rows.
These are the familiar B&M invert trains with the hard over-the-shoulder restraints.
This would be problematic if the ride were rough, but fortunately Flight Deck is still
extremely smooth after all these years.
I don’t have too much of a preference where I sit on this one.
The forces are great throughout the train.
The back has a pinch more power, but the front has that unobstructed view.
I usually split my rides between those two rows equally.
Once dispatched, you slightly turn out of the station and ascend the 102 foot or 30
meter tall lift hill.
You see the picnic pavilions beneath you and Levi’s Stadium off in front of you.
At the top, you navigate the familiar B&M pre-drop and then twist left down the first
drop.
And if you’re in the back, this 91 foot or 28 meter tall plunge has some snap to it.
This is followed by the first of three inversions, a very forceful vertical loop.
The train is flung through it and I usually start to greyout towards the end of it.
And my vision only worsens through the next element.
It’s a powerful upwards helix.
You spiral upwards with considerable speed and you’ll feel the blood rushing to your
feet.
It’s rare to see a helix so early on a B&M and it’s one of the most forceful elements
on any invert in my opinion.
You then drop back down and hurtle through the zero-G roll.
You’re going too fast for any hangtime.
Instead it’s a disorienting maneuver that pulls you through it as you rapidly rotates
you 360 degrees.
This inversion has some serious whip.
You then swoop over the queue line.
This turn delivers another good burst of positives.
You then have a brief moment to catch your breath as the coaster passes over the load
platform, but it’s the calm before the storm.
Flight Deck still has a great finale in store.
You then drop above a pond and are snapped through a corkscrew that abruptly shoves you
sideways.
This inversion immediately leads into a high-speed spiral.
You feel horizontal with the water as the Gs intensify once again.
Your legs will surely be tingling.
You then head up and into the brake run, ending the coaster.
The biggest flaw with Flight Deck is its length.
It’s tied for the least inversions on a B&M invert with 3 and in sole last place for
total track length.
And because this coaster has strong pacing, you charge through what little track it offers.
But I’ll take a powerful ride over one that’s long and dull.
So what would I rate Flight Deck?
I would give this coaster an 8 out of 10.
This is a good invert.
If you love forceful rides full of wild turns and inversions, this is the ride for you.
Few inverted coasters can match the intensity of Flight Deck and it manages to remain smooth
while showcasing all that power.
Really my only knock against this ride is its duration.
That’s why it’s towards the middle of the pack for inverts for me, but I still look
forward to every ride on it.
Although, I may not be able to get many more rides on this coaster.
Earlier this year, California’s Great America announced the park would permanently close
by 2033, although there’s speculation the park will be closed well before that.
It’s expected that Cedar Fair will relocate some of the rides, but Flight Deck’s future
is very much in doubt.
There are two things working against this ride.
First, the ride’s unique layout will make it harder to relocate.
The ride has subtle use of terrain, especially during the finale.
Second, this is one of the older B&M inverts.
And it’s one of the more cycled ones since Great America has a long season because of
Northern California’s weather.
We’ve seen a few of the 1990s B&Ms reaching the end of their service life.
A few have even needed a full retrack.
The most notable example is the Incredible Hulk Coaster, but there’s a more concerning
comparison.
Nemesis at Alton Towers opened one year after Flight Deck and it’s being closed for a
full retracking next year.
A big component of that may be Nemesis’s unique location in a pit, but it’s hard
to ignore.
I think these two factors, especially the ride’s age, will make it an unlikely relocation
candidate so I suspect Flight Deck will ultimately die with Great America, but I hope I’m wrong
and wish Cedar Fair and B&M can refurbish this ride to keep it going.
This ride would fit in perfectly at a park like Michigan’s Adventure or Valleyfair
that desperately needs a good inverting coaster.
So those are my thoughts on Flight Deck at California’s Great America, the second B&M
invert.
What are your thoughts on this coaster?
Do you agree it’s one of the most powerful inverts?
Let me know down below.
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