Flight of Fear
All three trains were modified to eliminate the shoulder harnesses in 2001. This greatly improved the ride because it was extremely rough and not at all enjoyable in its first form. In fact, when it opened, many thought this ride was one of the most brutal on the planet. When my brother rode the Flight of Fear in Ohio on opening day, he was bruised, and the person sitting next to him ended up bleeding from the mouth after the ride! My dad also rode it, and his glasses were bent during the ride. Without over-the-shoulder restraints to bang heads and ears into, the ride has improved. The mid-course block brake was also modified to bring every train to a stop, so the second half of the ride now happens more slowly than it did originally. This has helped tone down the ride's roughness. The trains' restraints have been modified, but the trains remain fairly short with only room for 20 passengers in each train.
Both this ride and the identical Flight of Fear at Kings Island opened on the same day in June 1996. They were the first coasters to use a Linear Induction Motor (LIM) launch. The launch mechanism uses 3 megawatts of electric power to create a powerful magnetic force to accelerate trains from a standstill to 54 miles an hour in 4 seconds. Because the massive power drain of the LIMs affected other utility customers, a large bank of capacitors had to be installed to dampen the voltage fluctuations experienced by nearby houses and businesses.
Both this Flight of Fear and the other Flight of Fear ride are identical with both rides having the same coaster, the same building enclosing the entire coaster, the same theming, and the same spaceship in the waiting queue. In addition to these two rides, Premier Rides built three other coasters that had the same track, but they were not enclosed and do not have the alien theme that the indoor coasters have. All five coasters are 79 feet tall and feature 2,700 feet of track. They have four inversions: a Cobra Roll (with two inversions), a Sidewinder, and a Corkscrew. The other "LIM Coaster" or "Mad Cobra" models are:
©2020 by Joel A. Rogers