In Douglas Adam’s book Life, The Universe, and Everything, he shares the secret of flying: it’s the art of learning how to “throw yourself at the ground and miss.” Tim Bailey teaches people how to do just that: throw themselves at the ground (in an airplane) and miss in order to fly.
Professionally speaking, Tim wears a lot of hats. Although his LinkedIn profile gives his job title as simply “Catalyst”, it then lists 10 separate jobs under “Current”. To name just a few, he works on SpaceVidcast, Space Task Force, Yuri’s Night (The World Space Party), and is the co-founder and Chief Operating Office of Sky Fire Lab—an independent organization promoting space travel in the media. See a theme yet? But if you scroll down to the bottom of his lengthy list of job titles, you will see that he is also a member of the Parabolic Flight Crew for the ZERO-G Corporation. What’s that you ask? parabolic what?
Tim’s job is the closest thing there is to being an astronaut without actually going into space. He spends his days assisting and training people in aircraft flights that simulate a microgravity environment—effectively he’s a flight attendant teaching people how to fly—and he is one of only nine people on the planet qualified to do this.
Tim has performed over 150 such flights, each with multiple parabolas—where the craft goes up and down at a steep angles to create a “weightless” free-fall environment inside—equating to over 24 hours of his life that Tim has spent unencumbered by the Earthly bonds of gravity. This has led to Tim’s unique ability to, as he puts it, “execute some fairly bad-ass flips in any axis [x, y, and z].”
In addition to being an evangelist and trainer for manned space travel, though, Tim is also a husband and recent father. Judging by his recent Twitter posts, he spends a lot of time with his family going between Kennedy Space Center and Disney World—a true geek dad’s paradise!
I recently chatted with Tim about his job, his work advocating for manned space travel, and his own future in space.
Jason Cranford Teague: Parabolic Expert is not the most common title I’ve seen on a business card. At what point in your life did you think to yourself “That looks like the career for me”?
Tim Bailey: Like so many wonderful things in life, this wasn’t something I planned for specifically. It does fall nicely in line with my plans to go to space! I started out as an eager young intern for Zero Gravity Corp during their final push to get an aircraft operational. When the FAA asked our cargo airline partner, Amerijet International, to provide Flight Attendants as the primary safety oversight during the parabolic flights, I jumped at the opportunity to attend the class.
JCT: What was the qualification process like?
TB: We went through two full weeks of 8-hour days in class learning everything about aircraft safety equipment and emergency procedures before we could be certified to fly. We have constant training and evaluation, just like crews on any other airline!
I was eventually hired to coordinate the research and filming customers that were interested in flying. My job was to ensure that we complied with the FAA regulations while still getting our customers the data or footage they wanted. I’ve since become an independent consultant for Zero G and a continuing part-time parabolic Flight Attendant for Amerijet.
JCT: IT seems like doing this would be a physically demanding job. How do you prepare for flights?
TB: The flights themselves help keep me in shape! The weightless portion is very aerobic while the 1.8-g pull out is more akin to weight lifting. Just keeping my head up is a workout! On the ground, I run after our 1-year-old a LOT. I do stretch and a bit of yoga to stay loose and limber. After a day of parabolas and the associated 1.8-g pull-outs, my whole body can be tensed. It is important to relax all those muscles and be ready to fly again.
JCT: Is Zero G mostly for fun or does anyone train for spaceflight using it?
TB: Doing a weightless flight is the way to train for space. Space agencies around the world have been using parabolic flight to prepare space travelers since the 60’s. I’ve even seen video of Yuri Gagarin on a parabolic flight before his historic first space mission!
I’ve been on multiple flights with future space travelers. I flew with Anousheh Ansari before her spaceflight as well as Richard Garriott and Charles Simyoni. I know that some of the Virgin Galactic “Founders” with tickets to space have also come to get acquainted with weightlessness. While they are also having fun, these folks always seem to be looking ahead at what they need to do to be ready to enjoy their spaceflight experience.
JCT: You have flown with a lot of famous people. I remember seeing the Mythbusters on a flight in one episode and realized you must be around there someplace. Who are some of the people you have flown with? Who took to weightlessness like a feather and who took to weightlessness like a rock?
TB: There have been a lot of notable Flyers on Zero G over the years. I’ve seen the cast and crew of countless tv shows including The Apprentice, The Biggest Loser, The Rebel Billionaire, and of course MythBusters. Jamie and Adam were incredibly fun and professional in debunking the moon hoax myth. The “celebrities” are usually really gracious and excited to be on the plane. The film crews behind the camera are working just as hard and will risk making themselves sick to get the shots just right. Those folks are my heroes.The crews for the 7Up and MasterCard commercials were really troopers and gave 110%.
I wasn’t on the plane with Stephen Hawking, but I saw all of the preparations for his flight. Hawking really took to weightlessness like a feather! He exceeded everyone’s expectations. Famed SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan flew back in 2004. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk flew just a few weeks ago with Avatar director Jim Cameron. All of them came away smiling. I think they also came away with a better understanding of the physics of space travel.
Hands down the best people to watch on G FORCE ONE are the astronauts. They move with an ease and grace that can only come from extended time in space. Buzz Aldrin was all smiles when he took his first steps in lunar gravity after decades on Earth.
Shuttle astronaut Sam Durrance (also my former boss) did tricks with the Flyers I’ve never seen before. Private astronaut Richard Garriott flew his mother with him to practice weightless painting techniques. All of them are really amazing people.
JCT: How old will Daughter need to be before you take her on her first parabolic flight?
TB: I’m already preparing my daughter to be weightless by holding her upside-down and flipping her around when we’re playing. So far she loves it! Kids as young as 8 can take part in the Zero G Experience and, like everyone else, some enjoy it more than others. I’ll see how she does with other experiences like swimming underwater and riding roller coasters first–experiences that give that “out of control” feeling. For some kids, it can bit a little scary. Also, I have to save up the $5k for the flight: I don’t get any freebies!
JCT: Has anyone ever wanted to a take Nirvana “Whatever” cover style photo, but in Zero G?
TB: I’m sure there are plenty of folks that would love to go “au naturale” on the plane, but none have been allowed to follow through on that wish! I’ve heard of some more risque activity on the Russian IL-76 parabolic aircraft, including nude interpretive dancing. The closest I’ve seen on–board the plane is weightless kissing. It is a LOT of fun (I know!) and a great reason to bring someone you love up with you on a parabolic flight. We’ve even had some engagements and a wedding on the plane! But no honeymoons.
JCT: You’ve done a lot to promote manned space flight. Do you think our children will go into space or will we keep sending robot emissaries?
TB: I think we’ll keep sending our most advanced robots out into the cosmos to learn where we should focus our attention. That type of planning just makes good sense when reaching out into new frontiers. After the robots, we will be sending people out into the solar system. I see the excitement generated by Virgin Galactic (and other private space exploration companies) and know that we’re going to see the commercial space industry keep expanding. At some point in the next few decades, going to space will be similar to taking an exotic vacation on Earth. If our kids save up, they’ll have no problems getting to space. I know I’m going to space. My wife and I plan to retire on the moon. No, really…
JCT: Or Mars? Would you be one of those intrepid colonists NASA announced they may be looking for to send on a one way trip to the Red Planet?
TB: Over my life, I’ve often fantasized about setting off for Mars with my family and a rag-tag group of brilliant colonists, all Kim Stanley Robinson style, never to return to the green hills of Earth. Lately, I’ve realized that I wouldn’t be happy living a true frontier life in such a harsh environment. If I’m not happy with cold feet or living in a tent for a month, I’m not going to do very well on Mars. I also like being around people and meeting new friends. That’s not likely to happen out in space.
I understand and respect the explorers that are willing to boldly set out for Mars with no intention to return. Indeed, that may be the only way to really make any kind of permanent settlement work. I’ve come to realize that there is no place in the universe as spectacularly beautiful or amazingly vibrant as our home planet. I’d like to be able to see Earth and come back for a visit every few years.
JCT: We worked together on Yuri’s Night for a few years. I loved working with the group, because it seemed like the first holiday for Geeks! How’s the 2011 planning going for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight?
TB: Yuri’s Night has recently incorporated as an independent non-profit organization after spending our first 10 years as a project of the Space Generation Advisory Council, an international youth-led organization that advises the UN on space topics. We’ve gotten a new Board of Directors and expanded our Global Executive Team to help us initiate more events worldwide and better support event organizers. Every event is independently organized, making each one a unique celebration of space exploration. While we always have big ideas, it is really the individual event organizers that make Yuri’s Night a success. Our goal is to have 1,000 events in 100 countries for 2011!
The Global Executive Team has some neat projects in the works that will help to grab a bit of media attention (I can’t reveal them yet!). We’re working hard to encourage more small, local gatherings that connect people with art, science, music, and exploration in new and interesting ways. Fifty years ago, a Soviet test pilot was the first human to look back and marvel at the beauty and fragility of our home planet from space. Since then, we’ve had artists, engineers, musicians, scientists, mothers, golfers, and, yes, even a video game designer orbiting around our planet. If there’s one thing that we want people to celebrate for Yuri’s Night 2011, it is that we are all connected and all important as fellow travelers on this tiny blue marble we call Earth.
Note: Anyone can start their own Yuri’s Night party, celebrating 50 years of manned space flight on 12 April 2011. Check out YurisNight.net for details.
Parabolic flight crew.. wonder how's the benefit packages like?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment