| What is it? It starts like any other flight. You board the aircraft, it taxies on to the runway and awaits its turn to fly. But some 30 minutes later you get to slip the surly bonds of earth. And no, we are not speaking figuratively. |
| Zero G Corporation, a company headquartered in Las Vegas, provides non-astronaut earthlings like you and me a chance to float around in space without actually going to space and feel zero gravity. All this in a passenger aircraft. |
| How does it work? Zero G Corporation conducts its zero gravity flights aboard a specially altered Boeing 727-200 aircraft. The aircraft is called G-Force One (if you're wondering where you've heard this before, the call sign for any aircraft carrying the American president is Air Force One). Before you board the flight, you have to undergo a training session. |
| After takeoff, once the Boeing 727-200 gains a certain altitude (roughly 19,000 feet), the aircraft makes parabolic flight manoeuvers "" basically controlled ascents and descents that create temporary weightlessness or reduced gravity. |
| As your pilot prepares to launch into the first parabola, you are guided by your "coach" to the floating zone "" this is the forward section of the aircraft that is approximately 90 feet in length "" where you are asked to lay padded on the floor before the period of weightlessness begins. |
| The flight lasts for about two hours and each of G-Force One's passengers gets about 30 seconds of weightlessness. And if you're wondering what you can do in that half minute of weightlessness, well, for one you could fly across the aircraft cabin or watch water droplets hover around or do push-ups on your little finger. If you can't think of anything exciting enough, the company even provides you with fun tricks that you can use in those 30 seconds. |
| How do I book? You can log on to the company website, www.gozerog.com. The tickets are also available at speciality retail chain, Sharp Image's 187 stores in the US and on its website www.sharperimage.com. Zero G operates the flights from the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle runway and landing facilities. |
| Since April, the company also conducts these flights from the Signature Air Terminal at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. The experience is also available for individual groups of family and friends and companies. Zero-G has taken employee groups from American Express, Hewlett-Packard, Google and Cadbury Schweppes on chartered zero gravity flights. |
| What are the damages? As much as $3,500 for a seat. And as a part of the ticket price, you'll be given photos and a DVD of the flight. The Boeing 727-200 has mounted high definition video cameras and even has a professional photographer on board to capture all your adventures. Psst! you are also allowed to bring your own camera and a handheld video camera as well. Cool? |
| Take it or leave it? Just two words of advice "" take it! |
| SNIPPETS |
| Cathay Cocktail Get to cloud number nine along with Cathay Pacific. Cathay Pacific Airways brought together around 30 of Hong Kong's top bartenders for a unique cocktail competition. |
| Organised in conjunction with the Hong Kong Bartenders Associations (HKBA), the aim of the competition was to select two new signature drinks "" one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic "" to be served to the airline's First and Business Class passengers across its global network. |
| The contest attracted the city's top bar staff from leading hotels, restaurants and bars. The winning alcoholic cocktail was created by Gerald Bedana from Morton's of Chicago and named "Cloud 9". The cocktail was a blend of vodka and fresh lemon juice with mint leaf. |
| Virgin attempts Chicago is the third busiest long haul route from London after New York and Dubai and one of the most accessible cities in the world by air. Now Virgin Atlantic is making it even more so as they launched daily services between London Heathrow and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. |
| Chicago, which becomes Virgin Atlantic's 27th destination worldwide, will be the airline's tenth US gateway. Chicago is a key destination in its own right as well as a hub for the Mid West. Virgin has also rolled out an exclusive ad campaign to woo the UK-bound traveler for their award-winning Upper Class. |
| Code share Having successfully launched their first codeshare flights on March 25, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines now enter the second phase of their cooperation. This will include new codeshare flights starting from May 3. Flights operated in codeshare will be Munich-Istanbul (Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines), Munich-Ankara (Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines) and Munich-Izmir (Lufthansa). |
| The Frankfurt operated routes started at the end of March. The flight from Istanbul to Munich marks the arrival of Turkish Airlines into Terminal 2, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Munich Airport. The passengers of both airlines will benefit from an increased number of flights, destinations and from better connections to Europe, the US and Canada. |
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