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)

FMI: www.nogravity.com