The wait is over – and so is the weight. A Swiss firm is offering zero gravity flights with standard, premium and deluxe packages, beginning 2015.
The Zero-G flights allows passengers to experience weightlessness as pilots plunge modified Airbus jets through the air, combating the earth’s gravitational pull for up to 25 seconds at a time.
The flight trajectory
The effect occurs when the planes climb at a steep angle and subsequently dive into a parabolic arc. The same technique is used by NASA to train budding astronauts, and was made famous as a method used by director Ron Howard during the filming of Apollo 13.
The planes are divided into three sections, with a “party zone” for up to 40 people, a premium section for 28 and an exclusive VIP area for just a select few.
Premium and VIP passengers will be presented with a special edition Breitling watch, which doubles up as a boarding card. The Chronograph S3 is named after Swiss Space Systems (S3), the firm behind the Zero-G flights.
Bookings are now open and the first aircraft is due to take off from Japan on January 10, 2014 Ticket prices will begin at “a few thousand pounds” for party zone ticketholders, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper has reported, but more detailed pricing is due to be announced.
Further flights are scheduled in the following locations (below) untll the final November 29, 2015, flight in Puerto Rico. A full calendar is available on the official website.