Flight Deck (California's Great America)

Roller coaster in Santa Clara, California

Flight Deck (formerly Top Gun and briefly as Soaring Chiefs) is a steel inverted roller coaster located at California's Great America in Santa Clara, California. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard and designed by Werner Stengel, the roller coaster made its debut on March 20, 1993, as Top Gun. The roller coaster was built as Paramount, who had purchased the Great America theme park in 1992 along with several other parks, sought to expand its entertainment opportunities and promote its films. After Paramount sold off its Great America park to Cedar Fair, the roller coaster was rebranded as Flight Deck. Flight Deck reaches a maximum height of 30.48 m, with a maximum speed of and a total track length of 688.85 m. The roller coaster was the second Bolliger & Mabillard Inverted model to be built. Originally themed to the Top Gun film, the roller coaster was set on an aircraft carrier with various displays. Upon opening, the roller coaster received mostly positive reviews from critics and guests.

Paramount Communications Inc. announced its intentions to purchase Kings Entertainment Company for $400 million on July 31, 1992. The planned acquisition would see the transfer of four theme parks owned or operated by the Kings Entertainment Company under the Paramount brand, which included Great America. Paramount was one of several entertainment companies that would acquire or purchase stakes in amusement parks to expand live entertainment opportunities and promote films. It was expected Paramount would develop rides based on films and franchises such as Top Gun, Star Trek, or The Addams Family. Great America became Paramount's Great America under the newly formed Paramount Parks, which planned to expand thematic elements in their park, including the addition of a Top Gun attraction to open in March 1993. The Top Gun attraction would be a steel inverted roller coaster, have a length of 688.85 m, and feature an elaborate themed queue. Construction on the station was underway in January 1993. Top Gun later opened with the park on March 20, the first operating season under Paramount and the 18th for Great America. Top Gun was one of several movie inspired attractions to open during the 1993 season, which included Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great Adventure, Jaws at Universal Studios Florida, and Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. After Paramount sold off Great America to Cedar Fair in 2006, the Top Gun theming was removed and the name changed to Flight Deck. Before Super Bowl LVIII, California's Great Adventure, located in Santa Clara and sharing a parking lot with the San Francisco 49ers, made a bet with Cedar Fair sister park Worlds of Fun, based in Kansas City, Missouri, the home city of the Kansas City Chiefs, that one of the rides in the losing team's theme park had to be renamed in honor of the winning team for opening weekend. The Chiefs' win meant that Flight Deck was renamed to "Soaring Chiefs" for the 2024 opening weekend, complete with a new logo that bears a resemblance to the Chiefs logo.

The train departs making a small right turn out of the station, ascending the 30.48 m chain lift hill. The drop at the top of the hill begins with a sharp left turn. After the initial drop of 27.74 m, the train reaches its maximum speed of The train enters a vertical loop, then performs a right banked 270 degree turn before dipping down and up into a zero gravity roll. Following the inversion, the train makes a short dive and then banks left into a flat right turn. The train then maneuvers into a shallow drop, immediately followed by a corkscrew. Exiting the corkscrew, the train enters a left banked 270 degree turn over a pond before turning right into the brake run and station. One roller coaster cycle takes around two minutes and twenty six seconds to complete.

Flight Deck is a custom Inverted Coaster model manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) and designed by Werner Stengel. Flight Deck operates with two trains. Each of the two trains can accommodate 28 passengers, arranged in seven rows with four to a single row. The roller coaster exerts 4.5 g forces to its riders. Flight Deck was repainted in 2014 to feature a red track and white support color scheme. The original roller coaster was themed to the Top Gun film.

A 24 year old man was killed on the site of Top Gun on September 7, 1998. The man's wife had lost her hat while riding the roller coaster, and the man had gone under a section of track to retrieve it. A park official stated the victim had to pass through a door marked "Do not enter" and cross a 1.83 m fence to enter the area where the hat had fallen. There, he was struck in the head by the foot of a 20 year old female rider on the roller coaster. The female rider was treated at a local hospital for a broken leg. The man, who was visiting from Mexico, was said to only speak Spanish and could not read the English safety signs displayed. The roller coaster remained temporarily closed thereafter pending an investigation. Cedar Fair was later fined $70,200 by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health relating to eight violations in safety, two pertaining to the accident.

Upon opening, the roller coaster received generally positive reviews from critics and guests. Cheri Matthews, a writer for The Modesto Bee, noted guest reactions to the roller coaster, with an American Coaster Enthusiast member stating it was their "favorite steel coaster" with another guest having exclaimed it was better than nearby steel roller coaster Vortex.