What is: Flying Aces
Flying Aces is a steel roller coaster, located at Ferrari World, in Abu Dhabi,
UAE. The ride opened to guests as the 2nd large scale thrill coaster to be built at
the Ferrari themed theme park, and the tallest complete circuit roller coaster
in the United Arab Emirates. Perhaps the most interesting part of Flying Aces is it’s theme,
which takes guests back to the origin of the well known Ferrari logo. Before we go down the rabbit
hole that is the origin of the prancing horse, why was this roller coaster built in the first place?
attract more guests back to the park, and compete against other parks being built in the area at the
time. Firstly, as theme parks go, Ferrari World is relatively new. It opened to guests in November of
2010 with a relatively small collection of rides. The main debut attraction was Formula Rossa,
the world’s fastest roller coaster, which quickly placed Ferrari World on the theme park map.
However, to keep guests coming back, the park needed to expand. In 2013,
Ferrari World set out a plan to develop the park’s offerings and build world class attractions. The
creative director at the time was given the task of attracting 40% more guests to the
park. To do this, he believed that Ferrari World needed more story-driven attractions
and themed environments - two things found in excess at Universal and Disney theme parks. The
designers wanted to ensure Ferrari World didn’t become a tame museum or edutainment facility,
and therefore needed exciting attractions that cleverly utilised the Ferrari brand.
One of the park's enhancements came in the form of an interactive experience which was designed
to transport guests to Italy. Instead of being car themed, the area pulls from the history,
influences and origins of the Ferrari brand itself - which proved to be successful. The expansion,
however, needed more than just an interactive experience. When the plan was developed, in 2013,
several new theme parks were poised to open across Dubai over the next few years. This
included MotionGate, Bollywood and Legoland, as part of the Dubai Parks and Resorts development;
as well as IMG Worlds of Adventure. Several of these parks were planning to boast multiple white
knuckle thrill coasters upon their debut. So in order to remain the park for thrill seekers in
the UAE, Ferrari World needed to construct another intense roller coaster. Their idea, Flying Aces.
Continuing with the idea of theming rides to something abstractly related to the Ferrari brand,
Flying Aces was created to tell the origin story of the well known Ferrari
logo. Judging from the name and design of the ride, this story involves planes.
At the beginning of the 1900s the idea of aviation began to evolve rapidly. Aircrafts began to be
used for reconnaissance during wars in the early 1910s, and by 1915, part way through World War 1,
they were being used to contribute to the fight. This ushered in a whole new type of combat, which
saw planes chase each other across the sky. Pilots quickly began to use new maneuvers to outperform
their enemies. German pilot Max Immelmann used his plane to perform what was dubbed an Immelmann
turn, a maneuver which saw the pilot pass the enemy, before climbing vertically, turning and
diving into a position behind the enemy plane. In fact, the maneuver was translated into roller
coasters in 1996, by Bolliger and Mabillard, with the debut of Montu. Pilots who were able
to perform well in air combat and were credited with shooting down five or more enemy planes,
were given the title “flying aces”. These flying aces were viewed as heroes to their countries.
Prior to the war, an Italian man called Francesco Baracca became an officer in the Royal Piedmont
(peed-e-mont) Cavalry, one of the most prestigious units in the Italian Army, which bore the emblem
of the “Cavallino Rampante”, the prancing horse. Baracca would go on to adopt a slightly modified
version of this emblem as his own. When Italy entered World War 1 Francesco was sent to France
for pilot training. Then, in 1917, he became the first Italian aviator to defeat an enemy in aerial
combat, and went on to win many more victories. By December of 1917 he had earned over 30 combat
victories, gaining the title “Ace of Aces”. It was in the same year that Francesco painted his emblem
of the prancing horse onto the fuselage of his plane, making it a defining mark of his legacy.
Unfortunately, Francesco Baracca would suffer defeat in June of 1918, passing away as a result
of the crash. Overall, he had 34 victories during his service in the war and became a hero to Italy.
Meanwhile, Enzo Ferrari was creating a legacy of his own. After viewing his
first motor race in 1908 he dreamt of being a racecar driver. Though, these dreams were
delayed due to World War 1, which saw him lose both his father and brother, Dino,
who served in the same squadron of the Italian Air Force as Francesco Baracca. Fortunately for Enzo,
he found success during the 1920s racing for Alfa Romeo. In 1923, following Ferrari’s victory
in the 1st Savio Automobile Circuit, he met the parents of the late Francesco Baracca,
who were a customer of Alfa Romeo. Upon meeting them he was gifted the emblem of the prancing
horse used by Francesco, and said that if he put it on his cars, it would bring him luck.
Enzo did just that in 1929 with the formation of the Scuderia Ferrari (scuderia), the
well known automotive company, which depicts the prancing horse as its logo.
Flying Aces was designed to loosely tell this story, and allow riders to step into the shoes of
Francesco Baracca. Guests begin by walking through the attraction’s entrance, themed to a World War
1 hangar. At this point, visitors are transported back in time. They find themselves in the barracks
of the 91st squadron. As guests navigate through the queue, they see a range of supplies, vehicles,
and even a crashed plane. To further immerse visitors, the park created a custom musical score,
which indicates the shift in time. At the entrance to the ride the music is loud and clear. As
riders find themselves in the queue, the same score is played through small radios scattered
throughout the themed area. Boxes of canvas and balsa wood can also be found lying around,
reminding guests of the nature of the planes of that era. A large mural of a landscape can also
be seen projected on the wall of the queue line, with planes occasionally flying across
and performing maneuvers in the sky. In addition to creating heavily detailed set pieces, Ferrari
World wanted to make guests feel as if they were really there. Various video elements have been
placed behind windows, showing soldiers marching along and planes taking off into the skies.
Audio of conversations can also be heard from various locations within the queue-line.
This audio-visual themed experience was created by Holovis, a company specialising
in immersive and mixed reality solutions. Some parts of the queue even have props,
like half eaten sandwiches and spilled drinks, to indicate someone was there not too long ago.
Once at the end of the line, visitors are met with a pre-ride show. Here, the story turns to them.
Upon being given the attraction’s safety briefing, guests are given their mission - they must prepare
to take flight with the 91st Squadron. Riders then approach a set of doors which open into
the main hangar where the train sits waiting. The entire design of Flying Aces has been crafted to
give guests the sensations a pilot would have experienced at the time. The ride’s train has
been designed to look like a Biplane, with the front car featuring a large propeller. Ferrari
World chose roller coaster manufacturer Intamin to produce the ride, due to their success with
Formula Rossa, another Intamin attraction. Flying Aces itself makes use of the company’s wing train
design. Here, visitors seated at the edge of each row of the train are suspended over the sides of
the track, further adding to the flying sensation. Each vehicle is made up of 7 cars, seating guests
in single rows of 4. This leads to a total of 28 riders per train. Once ready to embark on
their mission, visitors dispatch from the station building, and immediately begin to climb into the
skies. Flying Aces features the world’s steepest cable lift hill, at 51 degrees, which allows the
trains to climb a staggering 63m, 207ft high, in just over 10 seconds. Guests are given little time
to savour the views as they plunge down into the attraction’s first drop. Here they quickly begin
to bank right. As they do so, the trains reach their top speed of 120kmh 75mph. At this point,
riders enter the attraction's signature element, it’s 52m 171ft tall non-inverting loop - the
tallest loop-type element on any roller coaster around the world. Once completed, guests then
climb into an overbanked turn to the right. After diving back towards the ground and completing
an airtime hill, they climb an upward right hand turn. The trains plummet back towards the ground,
traverse a second airtime hill, and dive to the left. A long sweeping turn later sees visitors
navigate an s-hill, followed by an overbanked turn to the left. The trains then climb a left
hand upward turn, flip to the right, and complete a right hand turn. Guests enter another overbanked
turn, which leads them into the roller coaster’s single inversion, a heartline roll. The ride
comes to an end with a large swooping turn to the right, then the left; leading visitors into the
final brake run. During their experience, guests navigate 1500m 4921ft of track, in approximately
64 seconds of actual ride time, measured from the first drop to the final brake run.
In some senses, Flying Aces is unlike most thrill coasters. Many parks struggle to theme or
create a storyline for their larger scale rides. Ferrari World managed to debut a high intensity
attraction that told a story, the story of the embodiment of the Ferrari brand. As a result,
Flying Aces offers more than traditional thrill coasters can; while still packing
the same punch as similarly sized attractions. It’s known to provide a fast paced, intense ride;
which is only exaggerated by the desert like heat of Abu Dhabi. Despite all this, Flying Aces
is often overshadowed by Formula Rossa, which remains the fastest roller coaster ever built
and the flagship attraction of Ferrari World. Would you like to see other theme parks give
their large scale thrill coasters the same level of detail and theming found on Flying Aces? Let
us know in the comments down below. Thank you for watching, and we’ll see you all next time.
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