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Yes, those wings are needed to balance engine mass. Without wings it would come down engines first and no lift. Generating lift at those speeds is difficult and cargo to LEO makes 3.6% of total mass of BFR, 11% of BFS. So wings cannot be heavy. Perhaps they could use wings to store methane.
No way, nohow, is the BFR going to be cheap enough that the folks who fly economy could afford it. Like the Concord, it will be economically viable only for the ultra-rich, or for corporations that place a high value on their executives' time.
I, too, have spent time scuba diving. There is nothing "weightless" about it. You are floating, the same as you float in a hot-air balloon. You still feel the full effect of gravity, but being neutrally buoyant you maintain your position. The upward force on your body, counteracting the downward pull of gravity, is more evenly distributed during diving than it is when, say, lying on the ground. But there is none of the feeling of falling that you get from microgravity, or from a sudden drop in an airplane or the start of an elevator downward.
I agree. That’s why my post said it is “hardly the same thing as microgravity. But when I am neutrally buoyant underwater I feel like I weigh nothing. Of course gravity is still acting on me and my vestibular system works. However, if you have ever been underwater with no visual reference points (in open water and at depth) and on a closed circuit rebreather (so no bubble floating upwards) that can really throw you off!
I agree with that. But again, it's the vestibular system which matters if we are talking about riding in the BFR and microgravity. As someone mentioned above, even just turning your head will make you sick because the fluid in your ear canals responds to its own inertia rather than to gravity. The disorientation one can feel under water when directional clues disappear is an entirely different matter.
When I started diving I was actually a bit disappointed because I was "supposed" to feel weightless, and I didn't. I just felt floaty. Of course, in all other respects it was amazing. But irrelevant to a discussion about space flight. (Even though they use a big pool to train astronauts, because in space they float.)
The BFR will be the best ever carnival ride and travel shortener for those who can tolerate and afford it. But few will be able to do either. And those who can will probably have to be strapped in and have their head immobilized so that they cannot turn their head. Unless someone invents a really effective medicine. For those of us who get motion sick easily, the best medicines available today are only moderately effective.
