The Bat

The Bat, formerly called Flight Deck and Top Gun, is a suspended roller coaster at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. Built by Arrow Dynamics, the ride was known as Top Gun when it opened in 1993. It is the park's second suspended coaster following an earlier prototype from Arrow Development — also called The Bat – that operated at Kings Island from 1981 to 1983. The layout is designed to give riders the illusion they are narrowly missing track supports and other elements while swinging through sharp turns.

The 660-short-ton structure was planned years in advance before Paramount Communications purchased the park in 1992. However, Paramount took over operations in time to determine the ride's theme which was based on the Paramount Pictures film Top Gun. On November 11, 1992, Kings Island announced that a new roller coaster named Top Gun would be added to the park. The ride would be an Arrow Dynamics suspended coaster, very similar to The Bat which had operated at the park in the 1980s. Construction of Top Gun began in December 1992 and was completed in early spring 1993. The park hired John DeCuir Jr., a production designer who worked on the film, to design the ride's loading platform, so that it would resemble the deck of an aircraft carrier. Top Gun opened on April 9, 1993. The ride's queue, where guests waited in line, featured music from the motion picture. An aircraft carrier control room exhibit was also a feature that guests would pass through on their way to the loading platform above. Access to the control room exhibit was blocked off from the queue several years later, some time before Cedar Fair purchased the park in 2006.

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