Space and Physics
PUBLISHED
Tony Hawk and fellow professional skater Aaron “Jaws” Homoki took a ride on the G-Force One airbus and attempted to pull off some weightless tricks. Despite it looking like they had been using cheats on the “Tony Hawk Pro Skater” games, even these two skateboarding pros found the whole thing deceivingly difficult. Nevertheless, there's still a fair few backflips and quintuple kickflips.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Anybody can go on the “ZeroG” G-Force One airbus (if you’ve got $5,000 in the bank). It works by using aerobatic maneuvers known as parabolas. Firstly, the pilot flies the plane to around 7,000 meters (24,000 feet). He then tilts the plane to 45° and the plane rises to an altitude of 9,700 meters (32,000 feet). At this point, passengers will experience around 1.8 Gs. Then, by reducing thrust and lowering the nose, the plane essentially goes up-and-over a hump and creates a sensation of weightlessness that lasts for up to 30 seconds.
As you can imagine, all these ups and downs can play havoc with your stomach, and its contents, hence its endearing nickname “the vomit comet.”
Check out Tony Hawk and “Jaws” working their magic in the Sony promotional video below.
