From experience on the KC-135, I'd say most sickening part was the transition from 2G to 0G over the top. I'll never forget my first parabola on it, I thought I was gonna pass out. They have a digital display at the front and back of the cabin indicating the G's you're pulling. The number even tends to go negative by a few tenths over the top.
Right. I flew on the vomit comet (they prefer to use the term Weightless Wonder) a couple years ago as part of this same program. It is approx. 30 seconds of 0-G followed by 30-45 seconds of 2-G. And those 2-G's come on quick, so the flight director on board yells "Feet down, coming out." at the end of every parabola so that you don't end up smashing your face into the floor of the cabin. As far as vomit goes, they give much training prior to the flight on what to do if you're going to toss cookies.. they give you two vomit bags to stuff into the chest of your flight suit for quick access to your mouth. They also give you a double dose of motion sickness medicine the morning of your flight.
Slashdot Mirror
From experience on the KC-135, I'd say most sickening part was the transition from 2G to 0G over the top. I'll never forget my first parabola on it, I thought I was gonna pass out. They have a digital display at the front and back of the cabin indicating the G's you're pulling. The number even tends to go negative by a few tenths over the top.
Right. I flew on the vomit comet (they prefer to use the term Weightless Wonder) a couple years ago as part of this same program. It is approx. 30 seconds of 0-G followed by 30-45 seconds of 2-G. And those 2-G's come on quick, so the flight director on board yells "Feet down, coming out." at the end of every parabola so that you don't end up smashing your face into the floor of the cabin. As far as vomit goes, they give much training prior to the flight on what to do if you're going to toss cookies.. they give you two vomit bags to stuff into the chest of your flight suit for quick access to your mouth. They also give you a double dose of motion sickness medicine the morning of your flight.