Name: Airbus A310 A310 Zero G
Brand: Airbus

Airbus A310 A310 Zero G

A single A310 converted into a flying weightlessness laboratory, operated by Novespace for scientific, commercial and film parabolic flights.

Updated: August 25, 2026

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History

An A310 built to fall

One A310 airframe was converted into a scientific research laboratory dedicated to weightlessness. The aircraft flies parabolas that provide twenty-two seconds of weightlessness per manoeuvre, the standard procedure of reduced-gravity aircraft for experimenting with free fall without leaving the atmosphere.

Who operates it

The A310 Zero G is operated by Novespace, a subsidiary of CNES — the French space agency — and is based at Bordeaux-Mérignac airport. Besides scientific flights it performs recreational flights under the Air Zero G brand and movie special effects work, such as for The Mummy (2017).

Key data

Aircraft type	Flying laboratory for parabolic microgravity flights, based on an A310-304 airframe
Length	46.7 m
Wingspan	43.9 m
Height	15.9 m
Wing area	219 m²
Service ceiling	12,530 m
Powerplant	2 × General Electric CF6-80C2A2
Thrust per engine	233 kN
Max weapons load	0 kg
Crew	2

Powerplant

2 × General Electric CF6-80C2A2 turbofans rated at 233.35 kN each, the standard powerplant of the A310-304 the aircraft comes from.

Armament

None: this is a civil research aircraft with no provision for weapons.

Cargo capacity

The cabin was stripped to leave 200 m³ and roughly 100 m² of usable experiment floor, seating 43 occupants in the usual layout and 51 at most.

Range conditions

It flies no scheduled routes: it works parabola campaigns inside reserved airspace. Each manoeuvre lasts about 70 seconds and includes 1.8 g pull-ups and 22 seconds of weightlessness accurate to ±0.02 g.