You have probably experienced the weightless sensation before — that very short period of time when you are going over a hill in your car and feel yourself get lifted off the seat. But that feeling goes away almost as fast as it came: instantaneously. In the G-Force One aircraft, you have the opportunity to experience weightlessness for around 30 seconds straight, 15 different times. All for $8,500.
Back in March 2022, a lucky LHS parent won a giveaway from Uplift Aerospace and boarded one of these planes, all-expenses-paid. Derek Dillman learned about this opportunity on Discord, where he was joining several different groups in search of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that he might be able to make a profit on or gain information from. He came across this group called Space+, which Uplift Aerospace started. This company wanted to spark interest in people to learn more about space, and to give away trips and open opportunities to help make that happen.
“Their first giveaway [was] given to three people picked at random from their Discord group, before they even launched their NFT. It was an all-expenses-paid trip to fly to Austin, Texas, to ride in a zero-G plane,” said Dillman.
Only 10 days before the trip, Dillman was notified that he had won the giveaway. Knowing it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he accepted. When he arrived in Texas the next week, he met with several team members from Uplift Aerospace, as well as the other two people who had won the trip. They had dinner together and became acquainted with one another the night before the experience and then were shuttled to the area by the plane on the day of the flight. Throughout their time together, they were also accompanied by astronaut José M. Hernández.
“José was awesome, kind of like a celebrity on the plane,” said Dillman.
The giveaway winners and the astronaut were not the only ones who boarded the plane, as 24 others were there because they had spent the $8,500 required for the experience. There was a group of teenagers, their parents and then several other people who were just there to have fun.
“I spent a lot of time chatting with one man, who is now a full-time travel vlogger,” said Dillman. “[He] had inherited an oil empire, and now he just travels the world by himself, going to cool places and enjoying neat experiences.”
Right before the flight, the passengers were assembled and instructed on the process. On these zero-G flights, the plane moves in parabolic motion, which is what allows passengers to feel weightless. After each parabola, the people must drop and lie on the ground, waiting for the next one to come and to be sent floating off the plane floor again. While this might not sound fun to some people, this was the experience of a lifetime for Dillman.
“I am generally an easy-going thrill seeker by nature, so these kinds of things really excite me,” said Dillman. “[And it was] cool to be able to do something like that, that I would never pay for, for free.”
Before boarding the plane, Dillman was not nervous at all because he understood that the staff in charge of the plane were experts at operating it. The company owning it, Zero Gravity Corporation (Zero-G), had spent 11 years perfecting the aircraft and its flight. Due to the immense number of timing, engineering and piloting challenges involved, even NASA stopped its program and switched to contracting with Zero-G.
This Zero-G plane was created from what was initially a commercial Boeing 727 aircraft. The plane had to be heavily modified in order for it to be suitable for taking the steep inclines and nosedives. On the inside, there are just 30 seats in the back, and then the main cabin is empty aside from the padding on all sides that provides protection throughout the flight.
“They had warned us how we would basically not have much control of our bodies, because when you are floating mid-air, you can’t control where your body is going,” said Dillman. “It was so strange to not have any control of your body. The natural instinct is to push off of something or someone, [which is] troublesome because in zero-G, the tiniest push from your pointer finger on the ground could send you to the ceiling very quickly and cause you to kind of smack into it.”
The aspect that surprised Dillman the most about his experience was how difficult it was to control his movements around the cabin while in zero-G. The passengers were told not to flail their arms or legs, because doing so does not help them move in any certain direction and just poses a risk to themselves or someone else getting hurt. Even so, Dillman admits that he and the others were doing this just because of the unfamiliarity of the experience.
“That first parabola, myself and everyone included, were kicking and flailing everywhere!” said Dillman.
Throughout the 15 parabolas, the passengers felt varying amounts of gravity. The first one imitated gravity on Mars, the next few were like gravity on the Moon, then it was zero gravity and the last one was something called negative gravity. Dillman’s favorite was negative gravity, because it was like gravity pointed upwards, and they just floated off the ground. It was the only one that required no effort to feel weightlessness. These different levels were achieved from the plane free-falling towards the ground and then smoothly catching everyone inside at the bottom. At first, it was difficult for Dillman to tell that they were not experiencing Earth’s gravity anymore.
“We didn’t even know that we were weightless until the first person would put the smallest amount of effort into moving, and then we would all do the same, and we were shocked to find we were floating weightless around the cabin,” said Dillman. “It [was] easily one of the most exhilarating feelings in the world.”
Thankfully for Dillman, he did not have any motion sickness on the flight. Several others did, though, which is unfortunate considering the cost that they paid for the flight.
“Imagine paying $8,500 for you to [go on] the most intense airplane you will ever ride on, just so you can sit in the back and feel sick,” said Dillman.
Since the plane ride is intense and can make passengers feel as if they are on a carnival ride, Dillman advises people to only consider going on the Zero-G plane if they do not get motion sick. If a person is safe from that and is given the same opportunity that he was, it is one that should not be turned down. Dillman was able to meet many people on his trip and got to experience something that most people never will, even if he does not know if it is worth paying $8,500 for.
“If that sounds like a trivial amount of money to someone, I say go for it!” said Dillman. “If you can afford the experience or are fortunate enough, like me, to win one, you will not be disappointed!”
