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For some years now I've been interested in parabolic flights to get the feeling of zero gravity. There are various companies that offer such flights, especially in Russia.

I'm not sure how to choose a company, since I don't really know what important facts I have to look for.

So: What are important characteristics of a reliable and safe parabolic flight company?

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5  
Aren't they called parabolic flights? – Gagravarr Sep 15 '11 at 20:45
I'm not sure, in German it is called Parabelflug. So I just translated it ;) – RoflcoptrException♦ Sep 15 '11 at 20:45
@Gagravarr Thanks, I checked it and you were right. Corrected the question. – RoflcoptrException♦ Sep 15 '11 at 20:57
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Wikipedia calls them Vomit Comet flights, and says they follow an elliptical flight path that's almost parabolic. A parable is normally a story which illustrates a universal truth, which is rather different! – Gagravarr Sep 15 '11 at 20:58
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That's a parabola, but we're verging into the territory of other SE sites here... :) – Gagravarr Sep 15 '11 at 21:03
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3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

For safety, consider the aircraft age and the company operating the flights. A larger, well established company is less likely to skimp on maintenance and crew. A newer plane costs more, and is probably safer. Germany has tighter aviation safety standards than Russia.

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Can you give me a link to a german company that offers that? I never found one. – RoflcoptrException♦ Sep 16 '11 at 7:09
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IL-76 is safe air-craft, and there is no need to worry about safety in this case. Also, all the companies providing such tour are located in France. – VMAtm Sep 16 '11 at 8:47
@VMAtm: What do you mean by "safe aircraft" exactly? I'm not claiming the IL-76 would be particularly unsafe, but it has been involved in several incidents and accidents even in recent years. – Jonik Sep 16 '11 at 14:50
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Zero-G has flown an A300 in Germany in the past. I'm not sure whether they still do: dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-734/1210_read-3259 – xpda Sep 16 '11 at 14:52
@Jonik I've reading this article, and, according to it, most of the accidents were because of war or human factor. Also I want to note that IL-76 MDK is stronly powerized for the near-cosmos flights. Thats all I wanted to say. – VMAtm Sep 16 '11 at 17:02
up vote 6 down vote

See the Wiki article for general reference about countries who used such flights.
About booking the tickets from USA for such flights see this article
Russian company for such flights

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up vote 4 down vote

I have no idea how good or reliable this company is, I only remember seeing them in a Cracked.com article. The company is called Zero G Corporation and they offer zero gravity flights in the US on modified Boeing 727 aircrafts. FAA certification in the US is fairly rigorous (or at least I would like to believe so!) and thus this seems to be a 'safe' option.

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