Wings Over Washington Flying Ride

This highly complex renovation took place at Seattle Waterfront’s Pier 57 for the addition of the flying ride attraction, Wings Over Washington. The project was built on a 100+ year old pier, where nothing is plumb or straight. Adding to the complexity, the pier sways as much as six inches in heavy weather.

This was the most compact installation of a “flying ride” ever attempted, so substantial field engineering and site-specific adaptations had to be communicated throughout the project team. The ride counterbalance is over 40’ long, with a maximum ½” clearance between the finishes to set the ride pieces in place. These tight tolerances left no room for errors. W.G. Clark led the exchange of information and coordination among the multiple ride vendors, design teams, building inspectors and subcontractors to keep the project moving forward with a minimum of delays or cost impacts.

The diverse project team consisted of architects, above-pier structural engineers, below-pier structural engineers, marine contractors, audio visual, movie screen design, ride mechanical fabricator, interior designers, acoustical engineers, film producers, animatronics and more, from across the U.S. and Canada.