text: nighthawk ( roller coaster ) nighthawk is a steel flying roller coaster from vekoma located at carowinds amusement park . originally opening as stealth at california 's great america on april 1 , 2000 , the roller coaster was the first flying roller coaster model in the world . in 2003 , paramount decided to relocate the roller coaster to carowinds . it reopened as borg assimilator – the first coaster in the world to be themed to star trek – on march 20 , 2004 . after cedar fair purchased carowinds in 2006 , paramount themes were soon removed from the park , and the ride was renamed nighthawk . it is one of only three flying dutchman models still in existence from vekoma . history paramount 's great america ( 2000 — 2003 ) on june 22 , 1999 , paramount 's great america announced stealth as " the world 's first true flying coaster . " for stealth to be installed , the lower flume of logger 's run had to be altered and the yankee clipper had to be removed . the ride officially opened to the public on april 1 , 2000 . on august 21 , 2003 , it was announced stealth would close on september 1 to make room for a new water park , boomerang bay . the station and several footers are still located in the water park today . carowinds ( 2004 — present ) on august 21 , 2003 , carowinds announced a new flying roller coaster that would be relocated from california 's great america . the ride 's name was not announced at the time . on january 15 , 2004 , it was announced the new roller coaster would be named borg assimilator and would be the first star trek themed roller coaster . regarding the design of the attraction , dale , vice president of marketing and assistant general manager , said : nighthawk subsequently replaced the carolina riverboat , a paddle boat ride that took riders around the seven themed areas of the park . it officially opened to the public on march 20 , 2004 . cedar fair entertainment company purchased carowinds in 2006 and did not own the rights to several licenses used by the park . in 2008 , the park renamed several attractions including borg assimilator . it was renamed to nighthawk and the star trek theming was removed , including the black sphere that was in the pond underneath the ride . in 2009 , nighthawk was painted with dark blue supports and yellow track . ride experience track the steel track is approximately 2 , 766 feet ( 843 m ) in length and the height of the lift is approximately 115 feet ( 35 m ) . while at california 's great america , the track was painted red and white with steel gray supports . when the ride was relocated to carowinds , the track was repainted black and green and the supports remained gray . after the name was changed in 2008 , the ride was once again repainted with yellow track and blue supports . nighthawk has a total of five inversions . it features one vertical loop , a double corkscrew , two " lie to fly " and two " fly to lie " elements . each " lie to fly " and " fly to lie " element is counted as a half inversion . a " lie to fly " element is when riders are on their backs , facing the sky and they are flipped and face the ground . a " fly to lie " element is the opposite . layout once riders are seated and restrained , the train tilts backwards into a ' lay - down ' position and dispatched . the train travels backwards out of the station , turns left and travels up the 115 - foot ( 35 m ) lift hill . once the train reaches the top of the lift hill , it dips down into a twist ( called a " lie - to - fly " ) that turns the trains upside down into a flying position where riders face the ground . after the twist , the train travels down the first drop , reaching speeds of 51 mph ( 82 km / h ) . riders then go through an over banked horseshoe curve element . following the horseshoe , the train enters a " fly - to - lie " element that turns riders back to a lay - down position . after the banked turn , the ride enters the 66 - foot ( 20 m ) tall vertical loop , where riders experience 4 . 3 g 's . the train then goes into another " lie - to - fly " element . following the loop , riders go through another turn into the final " fly - to - lie " element before entering two consecutive corkscrews before making a right turn onto the brake run . theme while the ride was located at california 's great america , there was no theme for the ride . when it was relocated to carowinds in 2004 , it was built as the first star trek themed roller coaster in the world . it was renamed borg assimilator and the story was that " borg crash - landed in the middle of carowinds and their ship – a giant gray and black sphere – has come to rest near the park 's new flying roller coaster . " there was a gray and black sphere located in the pond underneath the ride that the borg crashed in . in addition to other theming , a voice was played surrounding the ride saying borg quotes . after cedar fair bought the park , all the star trek theming was removed and the name was changed for the 2008 season . trains nighthawk currently operates with two trains . each train has six cars that have four seats in a single row for a total of 24 riders . riders are restrained by an over the shoulder restraint and a lap bar . riders can put on the over the shoulder restraint but a ride operator will push down the lap bar . while in the station , the trains will recline back to the laying down position . incidents on march 17 , 2007 , seven employees received minor injuries when their seats changed position during a test run of the roller coaster . an inspection discovered that the ride operator accidentally pushed a button controlling the seat positions while the ride was in motion . that button was later modified to only work when the ride is stopped .