California Great America's Flight Deck

      Santa Clara - Paramount Picture's Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, was the top grossing movie of 1986. As the popularity of the movie continued to grow, even years after release, the Paramount Theme Parks began to capitalize on that appeal, by theming several new roller coasters with a Top Gun premise. The theme's of the several Top Gun type coasters vary, for example Batman The Ride at Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, Illinois), is built by the same company that built California Great America's Flight Deck (Santa Clara, California). All of the Top Gun type rides maintain the connection to the fighter jets. Either through a military jet-like stark steel-gray coloration, by having patriotic accents, through the use of movie clips, or by playing recorded music in certain areas of the ride, and in the use of other props as necessary in the ride area and the area surrounding the ride area. In 2006, The Paramount Company sold its theme parks to Cedar Fair, a company that owns several theme parks around the country. Paramount's justification for the sale was that operating theme parks was removing Paramount from its primary mission objective of movie production, and movie distribution. Roller Coaster fanatics interested in experiencing the rush of a Top Gun type ride can do so at parks stretching across the United States and Canada.
Because of the familiarity and popularity of the Top Gun name, some of the Top Gun coaster still have their original names and/or their original theming. Top Gun opened in 1993. It is a Swiss-made inverted steel coaster. It uses floor-less coaches suspended below the track. It reaches speeds of up to 50 miles-per-hour. Top Gun lasts approximately two minutes and 26 seconds. Top Gun has three inversions and features an initial 91 foot drop. California Great America's Flight Deck is sometimes still called Top Gun because it is a Top Gun styled roller coaster similar to Batman The Ride.
Flight Deck mimics the awesome aerobatics of fighter jet manuevers. Thrill seekers have four different options, or elements, designers use when designing roller coasters. They are the drop (Flight Deck has a maximum height of 102 feet and an initial drop of 91 feet). The turn or curve, a change in the direction of the roller coaster train. If the turn or curve is very close to the track going in the opposite direction, it is sometimes called a horseshoe for its shape.  360 degree rolls (sometimes known as barrel rolls), or tilts, rotating around the track while going in a straight line. Loops, vertical turns or vertical curves that go 360 degrees. At the top of the loop the riders are completely inverted.