Today was our Zero Gravity flight, and we arrived at about 9:00 at a building at the Las Vegas airport. There were 24 of us on the flight--a full house. We were given flight suits to wear (mostly so we wouldn't have stuff flying out of our pockets during the flight) and then went through an orientation. We were also offered Dramamine and ginger gum--I'm pleased to announce that nobody got airsickness on the "Vomit Comet".
 |
| And we got to keep the flight suit! |
The flight was handled like a traditional domestic plane flight, including boarding passes and safety lecture from the "flight attendants".
 |
| Showing a boarding pass |
The plane was configured with several rows of seats at the back, and a large open area between the seats and the cockpit.
Takeoff was like a normal flight, and the plane flew to an area that was about 50 miles away from the airport, and an altitude of about 25,000 feet. From that altitude, the plane descended very quickly, which created the Zero-G effect. The first two descents weren't as steep, which put us a about 1/6 normal gravity, like being on the moon. The remaining descents were steeper, reaching Zero-G. In all, there were 15 descents, with zero (or 1//6) gravity lasting for about 15-20 seconds on each descent.
The initial descent was kind of sudden and for about 2 seconds it felt a bit like what I imagine a roller coaster would feel like. On the remainder of the descents, there was almost no roller-coaster effect. Nobody seemed to be bothered by it.
In the pictures below, we are at 1/6 gravity. Although we remained on the floor, our bodies felt very light, and it was easy to do pushups or push yourself off the floor in the air.
At the end of each descent they called out "on the floor!" and we had to lie flat as gravity came back. The plane would then start to ascend. This caused gravity to increase to about 1 1/2 times normal, so that lifting your leg while on your back felt like you had a 10-20 pound weight on your ankles.
Starting with the third descent we were at Zero-G. We would be lying our backs or stomachs and gradually started floating upwards. The picture below is a posed shot with the people in the back (I'm in the blue hat, Brenda is in the middle), rising slowly off the floor.
When you started floating, the sensation was similar to being in water, with one big difference--moving your arms and legs had no effect other than hitting people near you. You had no control over where you went unless you could push yourself off the floor, ceiling, or side of the cabin.
There were two aspects that caused some problems. First, the plane was way too crowded, and there really wasn't room to do a lot of stunts like flips or chasing drops of water or Skittles. Second, we happened to be in the back of the plane, near the seats, and during Zero-G, people tended to drift towards the back. This meant that I spent a lot of my floating time trying to push my way out of the seats and into the open area.
 |
| Trying to get away from the seats |
 |
| Chasing balls and water droplets (we're not in this picture) |
Below is a 6-minute video that covers the entire flight (the time we spent lying on the floor is cut out).
After the last descent we flew level for a while and we could walk around the open area
Finally, we got back into our seats for landing.
 |
| Back on the ground |
 |
| Now we can get drunk! |
After the flight, we crashed (so to speak) for a while, and then went out to find a place to watch the Final Four game between UNC and Duke. Our ideal location would have been one of the casino sports books with dozens of screens, but the casinos were selling those seats for about $300 a pop. We wound up at a bar at a Mexican restaurant in the Planet Hollywood casino.
 |
| Go Heels! |
After the game, which ended at about 9:00 local time, we wandered (again) on the Strip.
