My Vomit Comet team is here from the great state of Wisconsin. Did I mention I’m mentoring a Vomit Comet team? And that I get to fly with them next Thursday? WOO!
They arrived last night but I met them this morning for the first time out at Ellington, where they got their boring (but necessary) safety briefing and then unpacked their experiment. It’s a behemoth of a thing — a spiderweb of two-by-fours and wires and screws and nails. It will not pass inspection in its current form, since wood isn’t homogenous and therefore it’s next to impossible to say that it will successfully carry 9 times the force of gravity in the event of a crash. So we’re going modular — taking it apart so the individual pieces can be stowed in crates for takeoff and landing.
Wade, John and Rob are all physics teachers, and their flight is part of the World Year of Physics (which was 2005, but their flights have been delayed by a whole year now). A guy named Vinaya from Physics Central will be blogging about them. Wade and John can’t be any older than I am, and I’m guessing Rob is still in his 30s. They’re a young team, which makes it even more fun for me. Here is a team photo that Vinaya took this morning and has already uploaded. Technology rules.
They’ll be keeping me busy for a good portion of the next week, including our all-day physiological training session tomorrow — classroom in the morning followed by an altitude chamber flight in the afternoon. (Who needs alcohol when you can just simulate breathing the air at 25,000 feet? It’s just like being drunk!)
Cool! How can I get a seat on the vomit comet!
I flew in the Vomit Comet a few years ago for a story and have never been so sick. It was so bad, I couldn’t shoot part of my story, so I had to go back a second time. The second time was MUCH better. It’s one of the coolest things you will ever do. HAVE FUN!!!