TheresaTrawick of Melbourne remembers "bouncing around like a pinball" in aplane during a flight last month. In this case, she couldn't have been happierabout it.
"Itwas unbelievably fun," she said.
Thecompany, which is planning flights out of the Titusville area and Orlando inNovember, sells spots on what's known as "parabolic flights" for$3,750 per person. The trips offer passengers the thrill of weightlessness.
Thecompany's planes -- modified Boeing 727 cargo jets -- perform a series ofup-and-down maneuvers that provide short periods of varying degrees ofweightlessness inside the plane's cabin, mimicking what astronauts experiencein space.
NoahMcMahon, Zero Gravity's chief marketing officer, said it's nothing too drastic.
"It'slike a bell-shaped curve," he said about the plane's
flight pattern.
Inaddition, Zero Gravity requires passengers to sign waivers to absolve thecompany from liabilities if anyone is injured, which McMahon said has nothappened in the company's brief history. The flights started in September, andabout 1,500 passengers have taken the flights, which have a capacity for 27passengers and three crew members.
Trawick, aschoolteacher who works in Rockledge, took a Zero Gravity flight out of FortLauderdale in July. She didn't have to pay for it. She was sponsored byeducational organizations.
But thoseconcerns quickly faded. She was supposed to conduct some experiments onboardduring the weightless periods, but she got caught up in the moment and washaving so much fun that she didn't get everything done.
"Iwas able to float," she said. "That was the most incrediblepart."
"I'm50 years old, and I don't do a lot of flips, so I was sore the next day,"she said.
Thecompany may operate flights out of North Brevard on a regular basis because the"space tourism" connection at Kennedy Space Center would be a goodfit for the company, McMahon said.
InOrlando, the company plans to have flights Nov. 6 to capitalize on a scienceteachers' conference in Orlando that weekend.
McMahonsaid they "slowly drift down" to the floor once gravity returns tothe cabin.
"It'sextremely smooth," he said.
FAAspokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the FAA has inspected Amerijet International'soperation and has had no problems with it.
"Ithink it will be a good thing for the community," Carr said. "It willhelp bring space tourism to the local economy -- coupling it with NASA and thespace program."
