WHAT DOES ZERO GRAVITY FEEL LIKE?
Without gravity, there no longer is up or down, neither are objects light- or heavy-weight.
Get ready to experience your body like you could never have imagined! Arguably, floating around in weightlessness onboard the IL-76 MDK might be some of the best fun you'll ever have:
While experiencing weightlessness on the downward slope of the parabola, passengers onboard the IL-76 MDK are exposed to 2G inside the cabin at the transition points from descent to ascent and during the actual climb-phase back to 20,000 ft AGL.
Your pilot will repeat this Kepler curve pattern 12-15 times, thus
creating weightlessness for a total of approximately 7 minutes over the 1.5 hour course of the entire zero-G flight experience.
Ilyushin IL-76 MDK
SITE LINKS FLIGHT CLUB SKYDIVING SCHOOL
SKYDIVE COACHING AND MENTORING
USPA SKYDIVE INTSRUCTOR RATINGS
Welcome to the Flight Club zero-gravity flights tutorial.
Experience zero gravity during a series of parabola flights onboard the IL-76 MDK.
Travel with us to the Chkalovsky airfield located at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia. An action-packed journey into a world where no gravity exists!
This page explains how zero-G parabola flights work, shows a video of what your zero-G experience on-board the IL-76 MDK will actually look like, provides detailed tour itineraries and a schedule with up-coming zero-G flight dates, associated tour prices and booking procedures. At the end, we have all the answers to FAQs.
ZER0-G PARABOLA FLIGHTS EXPLAINED
The Ilyushin IL-76 MDK wide-body aircraft is an unique flying laboratory which can create short-term weightless conditions. To achieve this, the IL-76 MDK follows a Kepler curve flight pattern:
The Ilyushin IL-76 MDK climbs with full thrust and at a 45 degree angle to an altitude of approximately 20,000 ft AGL, before taking the power out and going nose over. From that moment on, everything and everybody inside the plane is "floating" weightlessly, that is, until about 25 seconds later, when the IL-76 MDK is transitioning from its nose dive into yet another steep ascent (hence the nick-name "parabola flight).
Those of you interested in traveling to Star City for a zero-G parabola flight onboard the IL-76 MDK, please check out our step-by-step guide to putting together an itinerary which suits you:
ZERO-GRAVITY FLIGHT IN STAR CITY -
CUSTOMIZING YOUR TOUR ITINERARY
All Flight Club adventure trips and air sport events are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, custom-tailored according to your personal preferences.
Hence, when booking your zero-G flight experience, you can pick from a range of options regarding your trip itinerary:
1. DECIDE HOW MANY SEATS ONBOARD THE IL-76 YOU NEED
you have the option to either book a single seat ticket on the IL-76 MDK or
to book the entire IL-76 MDK exclusively for yourself or for a private group of up to 14 friends.
2. DECIDE THE DURATION OF YOUR TRIP
You can either go for the IL-76 MDK zero-G flight only (1 day trip) or alternatively, book
the IL-76 MDK zero-G flight experience plus 3 fun days in Moscow.
Please find a detailed description of both trip formats here:
TRIP DESCRIPTION:
IL-76 MDK ZERO-G FLIGHT ONLY
DAY 1
Your trip starts with your personal guide/ multi-lingual translator picking you up at your hotel in Moscow at 06.00 am on the day of your zero-G flight. The course of events throughout the day is similar to that of day #2 in the 3 day trip itinerary (detailed description follows right below) with the exception that, as part of the 1 day trip, we do not offer the night-time sight-seeing tour around Moscow. Your event with us concludes with the safe return to your hotel in Moscow.
TRIP DESCRIPTION:
IL-76 MDK ZERO-G FLIGHT PLUS 3 FUN DAYS IN MOSCOW
DAY 1
Your zero-g flight adventure starts with your personal guide/ multi-lingual translator picking you up at any of the 3 Moscow international airports.
We will bring you to your selected hotel in the city and assist with the check-in (as early as 14.00 pm) procedure.
We advise our guests to plan for a mid-day arrival to Moscow, as we invite you on a guided night-time sight-seeing tour around town later in the evening.
DAY 2
We will meet you in Moscow city at 06.00 am at either your hotel or in the office of our local service partners. After a short briefing in regards to the daily schedule of events, we will pack up and drive to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City. The commute will take us a good hour, depending on traffic.
Upon our arrival in Star City, we'll work our way through the security checkpoint and head over to the medical centre for a pre-flight check-up. The procedure is common and you got no worries there.
After receiving your medical clearance certificates, we invite you on on an interesting guided tour around the GCTC.
Once you are somewhat familiar with your new surroundings, you'll be attending the pre-flight briefing. It is conducted by staff members of the GCTC and will teach you everything there is to know about safety and a variety of other aspects regarding your zero-G parabola flight onboard the IL-76 MDK.
We will then transfer to the near-by Chkalovsky airfield, where we meet the IL-76 MDK flight crew and get dressed up for success - with a jump-suit and... wait for it.... a parachute. Once everyone is all suited up, it' s time for some last minute, hands-on emergency procedure practice. We'll play and drill the proper response to a variety of unusual- and emergency situations which might occur during any phase of the zero-G parabola flight.
Goal of these exercises, is for you to become familiar with your new environment onboard the seriously giant Ilyushin IL-76 MDK, have some fun and prepare for a safe zero-g flight experience.
Once all pre-flight procedures are completed and the "all-clear" comes out of the cockpit, we'll get onto the taxi-way and roll out onto the runway for show-time! You are now only moments away from four powerful Soloviev D-30KP turbo-fans, each creating roughly 26,400 lbs. of thrust, launching you into a world where no gravity exists.
During the next 90 minutes, the IL-76 MDK will repeat its familiar parabola shape flight pattern 12-15 times and thus, over the entire course of the zero-g flight experience, create onboard weightless conditions for around 7 minutes total.
Following your safe return to Chkalovsky airfield, there will be a an award ceremony in honour of your achievement, where you will be presented a certificate, video and photos of this memorable flight.
After the ceremony, we will head back into the city and drop you off at your hotel, for some well deserved idle time.
Later that evening, we will pick you up from the hotel and take you on a tour around Moscow, surfing the city's world-famous Metro. On our way across town, we'll stop by the Arbat for some souvenir shopping, hang out and have a genuinely good time mixed in among the colourful crowd.
DAY 3
After an eventful day yesterday and a good night out, we'll take it easy in the morning. Depending on your scheduled departure time from Moscow, we'll pick you up at the hotel at any time convenient for you before 12.00 pm and bring you to the any of the 3 Moscow international airports to say: "thank you for flying with us. Farewell."
PRICE CHART | ||
# OF PARTICIPANTS | ITINERARY | PRICE IN EUR |
INDIVIDUAL | ZERO-G FLIGHT ONLY | 4,000.00 |
INDIVIDUAL | FLIGHT + 3 DAY TOUR | 4.500.00 |
GROUP OF 14 | ZERO-G FLIGHT ONLY | 49,000.00 |
GROUP OF 14 | FLIGHT + 3 DAY TOUR | 56,000.00 |
VIDEO + PHOTOS (P.P.) | 250.00 |