Yes you can fly a gold. I've done it when our lightweight went down. Yes it is extremely heavy. Its so Heavy that I didn't even have them remove the optics with the conversion kit as it didn't make it much lighter and it would have taken to long. Also If the shot is a long walk and talk with a chance for many takes such as "it plays in one" then I wouldn't do the production any favor. At the same time if it is for an entire show you will build stamina for it as I've done that also. Expect pain.