The "Rebel Billionaire" Is NOT Reality TV... It's
Nonsense
For the few of you who
actually suffered through one of the latest attempts at Reality TV,
The Richard Branson "Rebel Billionaire" program has been an
uncommon disappointment. To those of us in aviation, it's also a
truly low moment... in that a fascinating aerospace
offering that has already brought the wonders of Zero Gravity
flight to hundreds of people, was unfairly and inaccurately
portrayed for the sake of cheap ratings... Though with the poor
viewership this turkey is getting, we may not have to worry that
the program's inaccuracies will be seen by too many people.
An episode of Richard Branson's Rebel Billionaire program
was filmed on board the Zero-G Corporation's 727, "G-Force One," a
few months ago. The episode (which actually spanned two weeks
programming) tried to impart the impression that there was an
emergency on board the aircraft (as did some of the program
listings supplied by Fox), and that virtually everyone on board was
getting airsick.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There was no
emergency... there wasn't the slightest hint of an
emergency... just more hype and crapola from folks whose arrogance
and ignorance have now been broadcast to the world. They
hit a little turbulence, that's all. The contestant who seemed
most upset by the turbulence and Zero-G parabolas admitted that she
never actually got sick and only a few others expressed discomfort
-- particularly camera people who spent the parabolas peering
through viewfinders and concentrating on filming... a situation
that is virtually guaranteed to exacerbate vertigo and nausea. This
flight, like many others, only had a few folks who got ill, and the
so-called severe turbulence was actually a few light to moderate
bumps that barely got the attention of the crew on board...
including me.
You see, I was a crewmember on that flight... and after dealing
with some (but not all) of the rudest TV people I've ever worked
with, I have to tell you that the biggest hazard I saw were
actually the TV people, themselves, interfering with the flightcrew
members entrusted with coaching the folks through the parabolas. I
was personally interfered with, twice, while trying to keep one
contestant from landing off-kilter after a parabola in which she
was told to "keep flipping" even after the call was made for
everyone to sit down for the pitch recovery.
This is a shame. Branson has hitched his cart to the private
space initiative that resulted in this year's X Prize successes. He
walked around Mojave like he owned the place, the day the prize was
won, and plainly enjoyed being seen and associated with such a
positive and successful event. However; by inaccurately portraying
the Zero-G flights as wild and hazardous -- even using a camera
trick that rotated the camera 360 degrees and seemed to suggest
that the aircraft executed a roll during some of the turbulence (an
impression repeated to me by the few folks I could find who
actually watched this overly dramatized program), Branson's program
portrayed this amazing activity, one that I've personally enjoyed
over 700 times, as something sickening, wild and crazy.
It is none of that. As a Zero-G coach and photographer, as well
as a crew member for this project, most of what I've seen were
delighted, joyous, faces filled with the wonder of the Zero Gravity
experience. Yes, a few people do not adjust well to the 1.8G
to 0G excursions and some do get sick. Some people also get
carsick. Some get seasick. Some people have problems with the most
gentle airline flights... that's life... but that's also the
exception, and NOT the rule. The GREAT majority of Zero-G
participants feel nothing but exhilaration... and I've
got nearly 10,000 high resolution photographs to prove it. More
important than that, I have worked and trained with the Zero G
company since BEFORE they were FAA certified... I watched them
sweat the most minute of details, work through the night to deal
with every foreseeable issue, and act with the utmost in
professionalism. I have nothing but the highest respect and
admiration for the way that they have conducted themselves (as well
as the Amerijet operation that operates the aircraft-- TOP Notch
folks, all) and am pleased to join them on a regular basis (I flew
with them just das ago on a few more flights... one of which
was the surprise fortieth birthday party for the guest of honor --
everyone had a ball, no one got sick, we hit a few bumps and we
giggled our buns off the entire time).
Zero-G is a high-class space-age organization, a Part 121
Certified airline program, and a true vision of the wonders that
await those who fulfill and/or follow the X Prize challenge... it
is not what Branson's program portrayed and I hope he was not aware
of just how badly this program was put together... because if he
did, he has to live with the fact that he just set back the
commercial space technology movement quite a ways. Worse, if
this is the level of professionalism we can expect from a Branson
space endeavor, I'm gonna wait for Burt's next customer before I
step on board.
Branson's program should apologize for the shameful and
inaccurate mis-characterizations of this flight. I found it
misleading, inaccurate and downright dishonest. It was also pretty
damned poor entertainment.
Shame on them... for "reality" programming, there was really
very little reality to be seen. I was there. I know. --
Jim Campbell, Aero-News Network Editor-In-Chief (Ready to play in
Zero G at EVERY opportunity)