FARGO - Active military personnel and the media sat - and floated - shoulder-to-shoulder Friday inside the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules, aptly named "Fat Albert."
The United States Marine Corps' winged accompaniment to the Navy's F/A-18 Hornets is a beheamoth of an aircraft. The C-130 has the ability to accomodate a max payload of 155,000 pounds of whatever it may be the military needs transported. Tanks, humvees and other heavy equipment isn't uncommon to clutter the plane's interior.
But with around 35 humans aboard the plane, it acted like its fighter jet counterparts.
A 45-degree ascent into the North Dakota blue-sky above Hector International Airport gave riders their first taste of zero gravity (a commercial airliner ascends at just three-degrees). While some riders began to look queasy, crew members were floating around the fuselage and encouraging one another to let loose, though everyone else let their seat belts hug them tightly.
On the opposite end of the G-force spectrum came positive 2-G's, equal to the feeling of weighing twice one's own weight. Banking from one side to the plane's other kept most on board clutching their barf bag until the C-130 came to a jolting stop on the tarmac.
Check out the photos Forum photographer Nick Wagner captured throughout the stomach-churning flight. You can catch "Fat Albert" and all of the Fargo AirSho Saturday and Sunday at Hector International Airport.
The event starts at 11 am and runs until 4 pm, and includes acrobatic flight performances, a Harrier "jump-jet" demonstration and a performance by the Navy Blue Angels flight team.
1/7: Airman First Class Preston Kath snaps a photo of two airwomen before boarding the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules, aka Fat Albert, at Hector International Airport on Friday, July 24, 2015, in Fargo, N.D. The Fargo AirSho will fill the sky with several different aircraft this weekend, featuring the Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration team. Nick Wagner / The Forum
2/7: A Marine Corps staple, the Semper Fidelis insignia is painted on one of the cockpit walls of the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules plane before it took off on a flight on Friday, July 24, 2015 over Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D. Nick Wagner / The Forum
3/7: Crew members of the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules plane exchange handshakes of confidence before commencing a flight on Friday, July 24, 2015 over Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D. Nick Wagner / The Forum
4/7: Aviation electronics technician Edwin Samaniego awaits takeoff aboard the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules plane on Friday, July 24, 2015 at Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D. Nick Wagner / The Forum
5/7: A crew member of the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules plane gets airborne on Friday, July 24, 2015 over Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D. Nick Wagner / The Forum
6/7: One of Fat Albert's several crew members looks across Hector International Airport's tarmac from the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules plane on Friday, July 24, 2015 after landing in Fargo, N.D. Nick Wagner / The Forum
7/7: Major Mark Hamilton debriefs active military personnel and members of the media following a flight on board the Navy Blue Angels' C-130 Hercules plane on Friday, July 24, 2015 at Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D. Nick Wagner / The Forum
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