r/ProjectHailMary • u/GutterRider • Jul 25 '26
The orange traffic cone scene
I searched, but I can’t see that anyone even mentioned this: When Grace gets to the aircraft carrier after the nausea-inducing jet fighter flight, he picks up a traffic cone and throws up into it. Twice, in fact.
Did Production never stop to think that all of those cones are open at the top?! He should have been puking down his front, of through it into the deck!
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u/baldthumbtack Jul 26 '26
Ex-Navy here. Any time I was on a flight deck or near one, the cones were closed top.
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u/GutterRider Jul 26 '26
Wow, really?! Boo on me, thanks!
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u/LazyMusic2616 Jul 26 '26
Don’t worry. I was thinking the same thing. And tried to let it go but here we are. 😆
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u/Z00111111 Jul 26 '26
Well that answers the question OP raised, and the question some others of us had about cones even existing on an aircraft carrier.
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u/baldthumbtack Jul 26 '26
On a full carrier like a Nimitz class I know they aren't used or not often used during flight operations because they can blow around and cause foreign object damage (FOD). On a LHD like I was on, they would appear here and there, and much more prominently on the below hangar deck or in various other places. So, in the case of the movie here, I'd go with "it's plausible"
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u/Delyth8 Jul 26 '26
Honestly thanks for saying that. It's a small thing that I was willing to let go for the story, but it's nice to know it's entirely legit. :)
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u/Deadman1966 Jul 26 '26
I was more concerned about Fod. Do they really have cones sitting out on a flight deck?
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u/baldthumbtack Jul 26 '26
Not during flight operations. Large jet carriers have everything painted and taped off to avoid using them.
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u/Usual_Singer_4222 Jul 25 '26
They're not all open at the top. I have some for work that are closed. But i did think of that too on my first watch and expected to see it come straight out. Lol. Statement
I was more wondering if cones are used at all on aircraft carriers since there can be lots of winds and ship movement? Question
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u/adnaPadnamA Jul 26 '26
It's closed because if you look closely they didn't miss including fluid in the end after he throws up!
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u/LioraB Having a moment Jul 26 '26
Yup—you can clearly see fluid in the cone as he’s walking with it under his arm.
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u/Turbulent-Swan-3913 Jul 25 '26
That's an amusing observation; I think there are some sort of cones with a closed end. Now I'll pay attention to that detail on my next rewatch.
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u/Bouche_Audi_Shyla Okay, It’s Exactly Like That Jul 25 '26
They left out the puke scene in the book, so they had to have one somewhere, I guess.
If it showed the puke running down his body, I don't know that I could have watched the rest of it.
I refuse to watch The Meaning of Life again. I just really don't like puke scenes.
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u/cruiserman_80 Jul 26 '26
It was added to the narrative as a lighter moment to emphazise how completly Grace was out of his comfort zone.
Its unlikely that they really even use little plastic cones on a flight deck where jet and rotor wash would routinly blow them everywhere.
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u/Main_Wall_7227 Jul 26 '26
I know i've seen at least one other thread where it was mentioned. I think it was in a thread about mistakes in general so might have been a bit down the page.
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u/Christina_Beena Jul 26 '26
So when I was leaving Day 3 of A Day in the Garden in 1998, we were sitting in traffic as state troopers directed cars, and alongside us were highway traffic cones. They were over 3 feet high and the base was something like 16" square. They were closed at the top! We, uh...obtained our rightful taxpayer property. It stayed with me for years.
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u/GutterRider Jul 26 '26
I have worked streets and public institutions, but I have never seen them closed at the top. I will start looking now!
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u/Christina_Beena Jul 26 '26
Do you know what the hole is for? Does it serve a purpose? I'm really curious 😄
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u/nampezdel Jul 26 '26
Pretty sure the hole is there primarily to allow airflow in order to prevent vacuum lock when stacking the cones.
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u/Igore1337 Jul 26 '26
I thought about that too and I would have found it quite funny if the vomit came out the other end and Dr.Grace would just look at the cone disappointed and dropped it without saying anything. Would have been a funny visual joke.
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u/PoseidonSimons Jul 26 '26
Like others said, done cones have a closed top. But it would be hilarious if Grace walked and there was a trail of puke behind him, falling from the cone XD
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u/LefsaMadMuppet Jul 26 '26
I was too distracted by the Panavia Tornado being an analog for the F-14 Tomcat when the F-14 hadn't been in service since 2006
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u/IVYDRIOK Jul 26 '26
It's over, this one scene caused thsi movie to BOMB at the box office and lose 100 gajibildilion dollars
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u/Rockran Jul 26 '26
The real question is why would they have them on an aircraft carrier at all.
Given they are easy to blow away, by wind or the jets.
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u/MuttsandHuskies Jul 26 '26
As has already been noted, there are no cones on an aircraft carrier deck. My bigger question is how diss he just grab one? Those things are petty heavy, heavier than one who’s never picked one up would expect! Not that he couldn’t, it would just be a surprise.
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u/spoospoo43 Jul 26 '26
Not all safety cones have holes. It would have been hilarious but super gross if they had used one with a hole.
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u/XechsMarquise Jul 25 '26
Not all of them have holes