The History of Flight of Fear

In August 1995, a crop circle appeared in a field at Kings Dominion: a UFO, an alien face, and the letter F written in binary. It was a marketing stunt, and the ride it teased would go on to make history. Flight of Fear, which opened in 1996, was one of the first roller coasters anywhere to launch with magnets, and it does the whole thing in the dark.

The crop circle

The park's public-relations team cut the design into the softball fields and even singed the grass with torches to sell the just-landed look. Helicopter footage of the "landing site" played on news stations as far away as San Diego. A few days later the park revealed the attraction: The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear, an indoor coaster themed to the revived science-fiction series.

Launched in the dark

Flight of Fear opened in June 1996 as one of the first roller coasters to launch using linear induction motors, banks of electromagnets that fling the train from a standstill to 54 miles per hour in about four seconds. The first successful launch of its kind happened right here at Kings Dominion. The entire ride is enclosed in a building, so once the train fires into the darkness, riders spin through a tangle of four inversions with no idea what is coming next. The launch was so power-hungry, drawing around three megawatts, that it briefly dimmed the lights for nearby utility customers until engineers installed a special capacitor bank to smooth the load. In 2001 the park dropped "The Outer Limits" from the name and swapped the over-the-shoulder restraints for lap bars.

Sister coasters

Flight of Fear has an identical twin at sister park Kings Island in Ohio, which opened the very same day in June 1996. The two are the only indoor versions of their model. Outdoor cousins run at other parks under names like Joker's Jinx and Poltergeist, out in daylight where you can see the track. Only at the two Kings parks do you take the launch blind.

One thing to know

Its magnetic launch drew so much power that it briefly dimmed the lights for nearby utility customers, until engineers installed equipment to smooth the load.

Flight of Fear is one chapter in the fifty-year history of Kings Dominion.

Flight of Fear at a glance