Six Flags unveils world’s tallest, fastest roller coaster that sends riders speeding 150 mph off a 600-foot cliff
Move over Taylor Swift — Six Flags will soon have a record-breaking new track.
Rollercoaster makers are taking the amusement park experience to new heights (and speeds) after unveiling designs for the Falcon’s Flight, the world’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster, climbing to over 600 feet while speeding down the track at over 150 mph.
While the record-shattering ride is still under construction, ride designer Intamin recently dropped a simulation video showcasing the scope of the adrenaline-pumping attraction.
“There is nothing quite like it anywhere else,” said Philippe Gas, the Chief Executive Officer at Six Flags Qiddaya, in Saudi Arabia where the modern engineering marvel will be located, in a past press release.
Intamin released the details for the ride in anticipation of the park’s opening next year.
According to its creator, this skyscraper-sized “Exa” coaster — a term that refers to any ride over 600 feet high — will boast a heart-stopping maximum drop of 640 feet, while the 14-passenger train will be able to achieve speeds of up to 156 mph, coaster101.com reported.
When the Falcon finally spreads its wings, it will reportedly tower over the current record holder for height, the 456-foot Kingda Ka in Six Flags Great Adventure, New Jersey.
It will also outpace Dubai’s Formula Rossa rollercoaster, the speed record holder which can travel at up to 149 mph.
And that’s not the only record this high roller is leaving in the dust.
To achieve this cheek-rippling speed, Falcon’s Flight will boast three separate electro-magnetic propulsion launches along its 2.48-mile-long track.
That’s nearly a mile longer than the current world record holder, Steel Dragon 2000 at Japan’s Nagashima Spa Land.
If that wasn’t intense enough, the first major drop will send riders over the edge of a rocky cliff and plunging towards the desert, as seen in the aforementioned simulation, Inside the Magic reported.
Gas dubbed this edgy feature the “greatest drop of any ride in the world,” adding that “it won’t be for the fainthearted.” All told, it makes your neighborhood rollercoaster look like a playground’s kiddie slide.
Despite the ludicrous speeds, passengers fortunately won’t need protective goggles like they do with the Formula Rossa.
Instead, each of the falcon-shaped four-passenger cars is equipped with windshields to shield them from the elements.
Falcon’s Flight will be one of 28 attractions at Qiddiya, the country’s first-ever amusement park, which is part of the nation’s Vision 2030 campaign, a government program aiming for increased “economic diversification, global engagement, and enhanced quality of life.”
