Firehawk

Former Name: X-Flight

Opened at Kings Island: 2007

Closed at Kings Island: 2018

Opened:  May 26, 2001

Original Location: Geauga Lake in Aurora, Ohio.

Original Cost: $15 million

Relocation Cost: $7.5 million

Type: Flying dutchman

Height: 115 feet

Length: 3,340 feet

Maximum Speed: 51 mile per hour

Angle of Decent: 30 degrees

Maximum G-Force:  4.3 g

Inversions: 5

Trains: 2 trains.  Each train has six cars, with four people per row for a total of twenty-four passengers per train.  Each train has two onboard computers.

Train Hourly Capacity: 400 guests per hour per train

Manufacturer: Vekoma International

Area Ride covers:  Approximately 5.5 acres.  The site was originally not level, and had to be filled in some areas with 25’ of soil to create a level site.

Station: features a dual loading station, to be staffed by 13 ride operators.

Location: Coney Mall

Ridership: Firehawk has given 1,601,205 rides since 2007, the 43rd-most in park history. Its record year was 2009, when 582,836 rides were given.  (Numbers through 2009 season)

Miscellaneous: The ride originally opened in 2001 at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure.  Cedar Fair purchased that park in 2004 and renamed it to its original name of Geauga Lake.  At the end of the 2006 season, Geauga Lake announced that X-Flight would be leaving the park and heading to another Cedar Fair property.  That ended up being Kings Island when they announced the ride in February of 2007, as part of a $10 million capital expansion for the park that year.  The ride is a flying coaster, and as such, riders ride in a reclined position and “fly” through some of the elements on the ride.  The ride was moved down I-71 on between 150-200 flatbed trucks.  Cincinnati firm Fenton Rigging oversaw the removal of the ride from Geauga Lake, as well as the erection of the ride at Kings Island.  They have done extensive work at Kings Island including: Face Off, Drop Zone, and Avatar: The last Airbender among others.

Construction

 

Ride Staging in Parking Lot

 

Pictures