Today, during the IAAPA Expo, Intamin revealed the Falcon’s Flight Qiddiya details in addition to the front train design to a warm reception as the world’s tallest, longest and fastest roller coaster is scheduled for a 2024 launch.
Opening at Six Flags Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia in 2024 Falcon’s Flight is set to break all of the records and is being labelled as a brand new ‘Exa Coaster’ by the manufacturers.
The ride will have a 640′ difference its highest and lowest point, and reach top speeds of 156 mph.
With a bit more than 13000 feet the steel track crosses the Six Flags Qiddiya park towards an over 600 feet high cliff wall – it even launches with a speed of approx. 100pmh to the top of the cliff. From here it finally drops vertically down, reaching a top speed of 156mph with the support of a magnetic launch system featuring Linear synchronous motors – the so called LSMs.
6 trains simultaneously in operation will guarantee a high capacity per hour to enjoy the ride of a lifetime.
Falcons Flights technical features exceed any characteristics realized so far in the coaster world.
See the official Intamin spec sheet for the ride below:
With a 640 feet height difference it will be nearly 200 feet higher than Kingda Ka, the current record holder at Six Flags Great Adventure
With a top speed of 156mph it will be 7 mph faster than Formula Rossa at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and with 13,123 feet of track it is nearly 1.5 times longer than the current record holder Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spaland in Japan.
As stated in the spec above the front car is sculpted to have the form of a falcon’s head and has seating for two passengers, the remaining cars are of a four passenger configuration with an open design to maximise the impression of speed and a sense of flying.
To compensate for the desert temperatures and the insane speed of the ride Intamin have equipped large spoked wheels custom designed to enhance cooling.
The LSM vehicles are also have a fully machined chassis with no welds meaning the frame is much easier to maintain.
Falcons Flight features 3 launches, one faster than the other. More than 700 LSM modules with water cooling will be used to accelerate the trains. The total number of motors is 6 times the number used for the Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure.
Riders will not need to wear protective eyewear unlike Formula Rossa in Abu Dhabi (currently the world’s fastest rollercoaster until Falcon’s Flight is complete) and instead will have a windshield on each row of the trains to protect all 14 passengers from the desert elements / debris.
Large wheels with custom designed rims for enhanced cooling are added to the train to compete with the high speeds and high ambient temperatures of the desert and the vehicles are equipped with fully machined, no weld chassis, and fully programmable onboard lights, which feature 35 individually controllable light modules.
The front of the train is sculpted in the shape of a falcon’s head and lap bars will give guests that ultimate freedom in what is set to be one of the world’s most insane roller coasters.
Intamin have also kindly provided us with some renders of the full track layout and surroundings.
The sheer scale of this ride has to be seen to be believed, it’s truly phenomenal!
A huge thanks to Intamin for sending these over!
Check out the Falcon’s Flight Qiddiya animation POV HERE
