Pilot sparks debate after pulling ‘zero gravity’ prank on his friends

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A pilot has sparked a debate after pulling a “zero gravity” prank on his friends whereas on a airplane.

On his Instagram account, John Robert Nelson often posts movies about his experiences as a pilot. In a now-viral video shared earlier this month, he appeared to drag a prank on two of his friends, who have been sitting behind him and one other pal within the plane.

Nelson began his video by filming his two feminine friends, as they gave the impression to be asleep of their seats whereas carrying headsets. The pilot’s good friend subsequent to him then put his thumb up for the digital camera, earlier than two girls, who didn’t look like carrying seatbelts, awoke once they started to drift up from their seats.

As a results of the microgravity, which is when there is no such thing as a drive of gravity appearing on the physique, the 2 girls hit the ceiling of the plane, whereas they moved upwards. They proceeded to snort alongside and smile as they floated again all the way down to their seats.

In the caption, Nelson went on to precise a number of the safeties and joys of flying an plane with his friends.

“Follow me if you want to see more people getting floated,” he quipped, earlier than including: “Zero gravity is safe and a fun type of thing to do with friends when done correctly.”

The video has gone viral on social media, with greater than 45m views, as of 20 February. In the feedback, folks have gone on to mock the prank, with claims that it seems to be staged.

“Pretend like you’re sleeping so I can do a vid,” one quipped, whereas one other added: “The fact that they immediately started smiling … clickbait lol.”

“This would have been hilarious if it wasn’t staged,” a 3rd wrote.

Meanwhile, others went on to query why the 2 feminine passengers weren’t carrying seatbelts, in addition to claimed there have been dangers to doing this prank on the plane.

“1, head injuries, 2 excessive negative wing loading, 3, if one of them ended up in the front interfering with flight controls or excessive forward balance,” one wrote. “Stuff pilots do for attention that can make the rest of us look stupid if something bad happens.”

However, many viewers have been amused by how the passengers skilled the feeling of weightlessness, with claims that the prank gave the impression to be enjoyable and secure.

“Not dangerous and staged. They knew it was coming. Just having a little fun. Get a life,” one wrote, whereas one other added: “My Dad used to stall like that and float an object from the front dash to kids in the back. Loved that stomach tickle!”

Earlier this week, Nelson shared a follow-up video to Instagram to deal with viewers’ issues concerning the zero gravity prank. He described plane rules that folks can point out to him, particularly across the “careless or reckless operation” of an plane. He then defended himself from criticism, noting that his friends have been secure when briefly floating up within the plane.

“I don’t think you can watch this video and think that I’m endangering somebody’s life. They’re simply floating up, floating down, I’m not overstressing the aircraft,” he mentioned.

The pilot then addressed the criticism about his friends not carrying seatbelts, noting that belts “are only required for taxiing, take-off, and landing”. He specified that his friends took the seatbelts up simply to “float up and down”, earlier than criticising the concept that he was breaking plane rules simply to “create content”.

“The reason they’re able to have fun in the back is because they know I’m being safe about it. I’m making sure we have plenty of altitude and that there’s no traffic around us,” he mentioned. “I like to be safe and have fun, and I hope you guys can see that in the video.”

As famous by the Zero Gravity Corporation, an area leisure and tourism firm, zero gravity situations are created when a airplane is lifted upwards at a 45-degree angle, throughout the first stage of parabolic flights. The stage lasts about 20 seconds, and it offers “passengers an experience of hypergravity, in which gravity is 1.8 times stronger than the gravity on Earth”.

The Independent has contacted Nelson for remark.