(Semi-OT) Where can I ride a centrifuge and how much would it cost me?

[DJ Wiza]

So yesterday, I saw this YouTube video that got posted on reddit of a guy doing G-force training: http://youtu.be/xuqf_6oplMc

It got me wondering...I've always felt that the G-forces on roller coasters tend to be rather weak. Any of them that DO pull a decent number of Gs will do it for a very short period of time. Any sustained Gs tend to be rather low.

Now, certainly I wouldn't expect to do the 8 G, 30 second challenge that this pilot-in-training does, but I've always wondered what kind of punishment I could withstand.

So that said, does anyone know if there are any places where a civilian can try something like this?

[Bill Steele]

For starters, a Gravitron, a Roundup and a Rotor.

[DJ Wiza]

I'm not talking about the pansy theme park rides that top out at 2-3 Gs. I'm talking a real human centrifuge that will sustain 5+ Gs. I want to ride the kind of thing the guy in the video was riding, but the only way I know of is to join the military to be a fighter pilot, but that's not happening.

[GodsOnSafari]

http://www.rusadventures.com/tour35.shtml

[DJ Wiza]

Ah yes, this is more what I'm looking for.

Too bad its in Russia. :-(

[David H.--REMOVE "STOPSPAM" to reply]

I can't imagine American lawyers or insurance companies allowing that here.

Then again, McKamey Manor seems to be getting away with its torture passing
as extreme haunt. So who knows these days?



"With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured,
the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us
all irrevocably." -Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
"The Drumhead", _Star Trek: The Next Generation_

[dr. m]

McKamey Manor only gets away with it because it's a private resident doing things to other consenting private residents with no money exchanging hands. Like sex, it's only legal if no one gets paid to do it.

So looks like what you need to do is start a kickstarter to buy your own centrifuge. :)

[TC10K]

I know a retired fighter pilot who was in the early tests for G-suits to combat pilots blacking out during quick pull-ups (yes, he's old). His team did the centrifuge until they passed out, which triggers an E-stop. This data was used to set max limits on the centrifuge for the standard tests that became routine in years to come.

FWIW, he says that once you get past 7 Gs, it's very painful. At 8 Gs, you hurt "at the cellular level". Nine Gs (which is what I believe he said he touched on before he blacked out) is "more pain that the human body should ever have to withstand".

There's probably a reason that thrill rides designed for the GP (who are normally in far worse physical shape than a Navy fighter pilot) max out at much lower Gs than this.

[windyc...@gmail.com]

are you still active?

[DJ Wiza]

Semi-active. I check here about once a week or so.