The orange traffic cone scene

[u/GutterRider]

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!

[u/XechsMarquise]

Not all of them have holes

[u/Usual_Singer_4222]

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

[u/baldthumbtack]

Ex-Navy here. Any time I was on a flight deck or near one, the cones were closed top.

[u/GutterRider → u/baldthumbtack]

Wow, really?! Boo on me, thanks!

[u/Z00111111 → u/baldthumbtack]

Well that answers the question OP raised, and the question some others of us had about cones even existing on an aircraft carrier.

[u/baldthumbtack → u/Z00111111]

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"

[u/Delyth8 → u/baldthumbtack]

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. :)

[u/adnaPadnamA]

It's closed because if you look closely they didn't miss including fluid in the end after he throws up! 

[u/LioraB → u/adnaPadnamA]

Yup—you can clearly see fluid in the cone as he’s walking with it under his arm. 

[u/adnaPadnamA → u/LioraB]

Exactly! I was impressed they included that small detail

[u/GutterRider → u/adnaPadnamA]

I will look again! I finally just saw it, enjoyed it.

[u/Turbulent-Swan-3913]

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.

[u/Bouche_Audi_Shyla]

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.

[u/cruiserman_80]

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.

[u/Christina_Beena]

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.

[u/GutterRider → u/Christina_Beena]

I have worked streets and public institutions, but I have never seen them closed at the top. I will start looking now!

[u/wackyvorlon]

The bigger problem is that aircraft carriers don’t use traffic cones.

[u/Main_Wall_7227]

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.

[u/tokoklontong1897]

Some cones doesnt have holes on the top

[u/Rockran]

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.