X-Flight, located at
Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in Aurora, OH, was the second
Vekoma Flying roller coaster built after
Stealth. Opened May 26th, 2001, X-Flight had a warm fan base welcome with long lines but was cursed with numerous mechanical issues. Since then most of those seem to have worked themselves out and the only blight remaining is the sometimes-slow loading/unloading times due to the type of roller coaster it is.
When you board the four across car of X-Flight you sit in a slightly reclined position and begin the regiment of safety features. Over each shoulder goes a padded vest that clips together and then braces against you. Up, between your legs, comes a bar, chin restraints, and a sort of lap bar. At departure the seats recline back to create a lying down position.
Riders ascend the 115’
lift hill headfirst looking up at the sky. At the peak the riders are flipped over into the “flying” position, looking down at the ground and begin to plummet into their X-Flight. Riders pull up through a
horseshoe, then around into a half-twist leaving them facing up to go into a very
G-force laden
vertical loop. After a small series of drops and turns the riders go into
inline twists and a
helix before returning to the station. This entire coarse, besides leaving the riders breathless, lasts two minutes and twenty seconds and goes through 3340’ worth of track. The max speed of 51 mph is nothing to sneeze at because this is coupled with 4.3 maximum G-forces, quite high for a roller coaster. Overall this is my personal favorite roller coaster in the world and I would recommend the experience to fly to anyone who cannot turn down a thrill.
X-Flight
- Height: 115’
- Max Speed: 51 mph
- Inversions: 4
- Max G-Forces: 4.3
- Duration: 2:20
- Length: 3340’
Resources include roller coaster database, photographs, memories, and a whole lot of ride time