X-Flight | |
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Six Flags Great America | |
Location | Six Flags Great America |
Park section | County Fair |
Coordinates | 42°21′55.57″N87°56′1.63″W / 42.3654361°N 87.9337861°W |
Status | Operating |
Soft opening date | May 12, 2012 |
Opening date | May 16, 2012 |
Cost | $12–15 million [1] |
Replaced | Splashwater Falls Great America Raceway |
General statistics | |
Type | Steel – Wing Coaster |
Manufacturer | Bolliger & Mabillard |
Model | Wing Coaster |
Track layout | Twister |
Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
Height | 120 ft (37 m) |
Length | 3,000 ft (910 m) |
Speed | 55 mph (89 km/h) |
Inversions | 5 |
Duration | 1:15 |
Height restriction | 52–78 in (132–198 cm) |
Trains | 2 trains with 8 cars. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train. |
Flash Pass available | |
Must transfer from wheelchair | |
X-Flight at RCDB |
X-Flight is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Designed and built by Bolliger & Mabillard, the ride opened as the fourth Wing Coaster in the world and the second in the United States on May 16, 2012. It replaced both the Splashwater Falls and Great American Raceway attractions. The 3,000-foot-long (910 m) roller coaster features barrel rolls, high-speed drops, and a signature fly-through element, where the train narrowly misses a relocated air traffic control tower as it passes through an opening known as a keyhole element.
X-Flight was announced on September 1, 2011. Six Flags Great America was the first park to announce plans for a Wing Coaster in the United States. [2] Land clearing started that same month on the former site of Splashwater Falls and the Great America Raceway. [3] The first pieces of the track began to arrive in early October. [4] 127 Caissons (footers), ranging from 30 feet (9.1 m) to 77 feet (23 m) were dug into the ground. [5] On January 27, 2012, the final piece of the lift hill was topped off. [6] The trains for X-Flight arrived at the park on March 2, 2012. [7] In a Chicago Sun-Times article in February, the park said they expect safety tests to start in early April. [8] A soft opening media preview event was held on May 10, 2012. [9] X-Flight opened for "Xclusive season pass holders" on the weekend of May 12 and then to the public on May 16, 2012. [10] [11] [12] X-Flight originally opened with a 54" height restriction. In 2024, this was changed from 54" to 52".
... It'll be like riding on the wing of a plane. [13]
— Gary Pohlman, Director of maintenance/construction
After departing from the station, which resembles an airplane hangar, the train immediately begins to climb the steep 120-foot (37 m) chain lift hill. Upon reaching the top of the lift hill, the train enters the first element of the roller coaster, a Dive Drop. This element is similar to the Dive Drop's found on The Swarm at Thorpe Park and GateKeeper at Cedar Point and consists of the train rotating 180 degrees into an upside down position before descending back to the ground. During this drop, the train reaches its top speed of 55 miles per hour (89 km/h). At the bottom of the first drop, riders get their picture taken. After the train exits the first drop, the train then enters a zero-g-roll before going through a cloud of fog. The train then makes a slight left turn before entering an Immelmann loop followed by a right turn over a pond. The train then leads into the second zero-g-roll over the main entrance of the ride. Following the roll, the train makes a left turn before going through an Inline twist. During this element, which is known as a keyhole, riders go through an actual airplane control tower (which was retrieved from O'Hare International Airport), giving the illusion the train will hit the tower. After going through the tower, the train goes through another near miss keyhole surrounded by a cloud of fog, before exiting the twist and making a tight right turn, passing by Demon's corkscrews and last turn, before making a slight left upward turn leading into the Main Brake. The train then makes a 180-degree left turn into the slowdown brake and the transfer track before entering the station. One cycle lasts about 1 minute and 15 seconds. [3] [13] [14]
X-Flight is a Wing Coaster model from Swiss manufacturer, Bolliger & Mabillard. It was the fifth B&M coaster for Six Flags Great America. X Flight joins the inverted roller coaster, Batman: The Ride, the hyper-twister, Raging Bull and the flying roller coaster, Superman: Ultimate Flight, giving the park a total of four operating coasters from B&M. The park's first B&M coaster, Iron Wolf, was moved to Six Flags America at the end of the 2011 season. X-Flight was the fourth Wing Coaster built and the second in the United States, preceded by Wild Eagle at Dollywood. [15]
X-Flight operates with two steel and fiberglass trains. Each train has eight cars with four seats per car (two on each side of the track) for a total of 32 riders per train. The colors of the train are red and black with over-the-shoulder restraints. [12] [16] The restraints are similar to the restraints found on Superman: Ultimate Flight.
The steel track is approximately 3,000 feet (910 m) in length and the height of the lift is approximately 120 feet (37 m). [12] The track is colored red while the supports are black. [3]
X-Flight has received mostly positive reviews. Doug George from the Chicago Tribune stated the ride is very smooth with "rolls, dives and inverted, eye-bugging flips." [17] However, he stated that the ride is pretty short and with only one train running the course at a time, the wait time can reach as long as other popular attractions at the park. [17] The Coaster Critic reviewed the ride and stated that the theming is very well done, especially the keyhole element. He said the different seating set up encourages re-rides because of the different experience on each side of the train. Overall, he gave the ride a 9 out of 10 because of the "riding position, loops, and interactions or near-misses." [18]
Year | 2013 |
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Ranking | 45 (tie) [19] |
An inverted roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster in which the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. Riders are seated in open cars, letting their feet swing freely. The inverted coaster was pioneered by Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard in the early 1990s with the development of Batman: The Ride, which opened at Six Flags Great America on May 9, 1992.
Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by engineers Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, both of whom had worked for Giovanola.
A Floorless Coaster, commonly known as a Floorless Roller Coaster, is a type of steel roller coaster manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard where riders sit with no floor underneath them, allowing their feet to swing freely just above the track. Development of the Floorless Coaster model began between 1995 and 1996 with Medusa at Six Flags Great Adventure opening on April 2, 1999, making it the world's first Floorless Roller Coaster. Floorless Roller Coasters also tend to have 3 to 7 inversions incorporated in the layout of the coaster.
The launched roller coaster is a modern form of roller coaster. A launched coaster initiates a ride with high amounts of acceleration via one or a series of linear induction motors (LIM), linear synchronous motors (LSM), catapults, tires, chains, or other mechanisms employing hydraulic or pneumatic power, along a launch track. This mode of acceleration powers many of the fastest roller coasters in the world.
Raging Bull is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Designed by Werner Stengel and manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), the ride opened to the public on May 1, 1999. It features a 208-foot (63 m) first drop, a maximum speed of 73 mph (117 km/h), and a track length of over 5,000 feet (1,524 m). It was the second B&M Hyper Coaster model to open in the United States, closely following the opening of Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
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Tatsu is a flying roller coaster designed by Bolliger & Mabillard at the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park located in Valencia, California, United States. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, it opened as the tallest, fastest, and longest flying coaster in the world on May 13, 2006. It became the park's seventeenth coaster, featuring a height of 170 feet (52 m), a track length of 3,602 feet (1,098 m), and a maximum speed of 62 mph (100 km/h). Tatsu also features the world's tallest pretzel loop and the only zero-gravity roll inversion on a flying coaster model. Nearly a decade later, The Flying Dinosaur opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2016, breaking Tatsu's length record and matching its speed. In its debut season, Tatsu was ranked 40th among steel coasters in the annual Golden Ticket Awards from Amusement Today, peaking with a rank of 28 in 2012.
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Flashback was a steel roller coaster made by Intamin of Switzerland. The coaster was located in the Six Flags Plaza area of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The model of the ride, a Space Diver coaster, was intended to be mass-produced, however, Flashback was the only installation.
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Batman: The Dark Knight is a steel floorless roller coaster designed by Bolliger & Mabillard located in the Gotham City section of Six Flags New England. The roller coaster has 2,600 feet (790 m) of track, reaches a maximum height of 117.8 feet (35.9 m) and features five inversions. The coaster was released to the public on April 20, 2002. In 2008, the ride's name was changed to Batman: The Ride to avoid confusion with Six Flags New England's installation of The Dark Knight Coaster that was planned to be built at the park, but after the project was cancelled, the ride's name reverted to Batman: The Dark Knight.
Medusa is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard, Medusa opened in 2000 as the first floorless roller coaster on the West Coast. The roller coaster features seven inversions, a 150-foot (46 m)-tall lift hill with a 150-foot (46 m) drop, and the first Sea serpent roll element ever built on a B&M roller coaster. The ride is the longest coaster in Northern California at 3,937 feet (1,200 m) long and is notable as having one of the largest vertical loops in the world at 128 feet (39 m). It also shares the height record in Northern California with another two rides in the same park, The Flash: Vertical Velocity, and Superman: Ultimate Flight at 150 feet (46 m) high.
Firehawk was a flying roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. Manufactured by Vekoma, it originally opened as X-Flight at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure on May 26, 2001, billed as the Midwest's first and only flying roller coaster. Cedar Fair purchased Worlds of Adventure in 2004 and began efforts to downsize the park. X-Flight was relocated to Kings Island following the 2006 season, where it reopened as Firehawk on May 26, 2007.
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