Weightless Flight - in Zero Gravity!
Imagine being weightless above the Sunshine State as you cruise on board of a Boeing B727! Or nearby Las Vegas, or at the summerstate California. On one side there is the Atlantic Ocean, one of the most diverse and amazing bodies of water, glistens below while the sun glints off the silver wings of “G-Force One,” a parabolic certified aircraft presented for your use by Zero Gravity Corporation. Your adventure begins from the famous Kennedy Space Center or you can choose to take this exciting flight from Las Vegas, Nevada or other destinations Since 2004, Zero Gravity has been able to offer you the experience of a lifetime in their B727 aircraft.
Like the Russian Iljushin 76 MDK, this aircraft possesses the ability to pull enough G’s in order to allow its passengers to achieve weightlessness. NASA, the world famous American space agency, has used this aircraft for years, along with the Boeing 707 (also known by the military as the KC135 – used in hurricane hunter flights for its amazing stabilizing ability) to train its astronauts in weightless maneuvering.
Once you’re off the ramp, safely buckled into your comfortable seats – just like a first-class jetliner seat – it takes less than 30 minutes to get to the Gulf of Mexico. Your pilot eases the aircraft up to a cruising altitude of 21,300 feet. An onboard/inflight check is completed, and then you’re allowed to get up and move around the cabin of the aircraft. When conditions are just right, the pilots apply full thrust to the powerful jet engines, and with a roar that will echo in your ears every time you relate this event to your envious friends, the jet rises at sharp 45 degree angle upward to an approximate altitude of 34,000 feet.
You feel 2 full G’s of force and then it happens…Weightless Flight (also known as Parabolic Flight) is achieved by flying G-FORCE ONE through a parabolic flight maneuver. Our specially trained pilots fly these maneuvers between and altitude of approximately 24,000 and 34,000 feet. Lasting about one minute, from start to finish, each parabola takes 10 miles of airspace to perform.
The maneuver feels somewhat like a roller coaster ride, rising up at approximately 45 degrees with the nose up in the air. Then the plane is 'pushed over' the top to achieve the zero-gravity for the parabolas. For approximately the next 30 seconds everything, and everyone, in the plane is weightless. Then the pilot eases the plane into a 30 degree pull-out, which allows you to steady yourself on the aircraft floor. Your instructor is there with you the whole time, to ensure your safety. The pilot then readies the plane so you can go again! This process is repeated 15 times, including a 1/6 G (moon) and 1/3 G (Mars)!
Your Zero Gravity adventure continues with a tour of the Kennedy Space Center, home of the Space Shuttle! Here you will learn about the high tech facilities and great minds that it takes to further our ability to explore space, and the history of space exploration.
On your flight home, you can reminisce about your latest experience on G-Force One… and you know that the ground will never feel the same again!