Questions tagged [flight]
For questions related to the act or process of flying through an atmosphere. Includes any means of propelling oneself through the atmosphere of a world, including biological or technological. Does not include flight outside an atmosphere (compare [space-travel]). Compare [aircraft] and [airships], which are about the machines themselves.
357
questions
79
votes
13
answers
16k
views
Are flying plants possible?
Is it possible for a plant to have the ability to fly?
More exactly, the plant would either need to live without having any roots (and it would never need to touch the ground), or with the ability to ...
- 16.8k
61
votes
10
answers
25k
views
A Bird that Never Touches Ground
Birds, as we currently know them, build nests and lay eggs on the ground. People and things with sharp teeth live on the ground. There are also things with claws and beaks up in the air, but fewer.
I ...
- 59.9k
56
votes
15
answers
13k
views
Would a steam powered plane be able to cross the Atlantic ocean?
In a world where the development of internal combustion engines had been seriously delayed (for whatever reason), would it have been possible to power heavier than air aircraft by steam propulsion? ...
- 36.9k
55
votes
13
answers
8k
views
In a society of flying beings, would the wheel ever be invented?
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
-- Douglas Adams.
Humans can't fly. Not themselves. Sure, we can climb aboard a plane, a hot air balloon, or a rocket ship. ...
- 1,087
55
votes
18
answers
6k
views
Could you design a fighter plane for a centaur?
It's the Great War, and all the nations are having a good time of it, painting their biplanes flashy colours, as they shoot into their own propellers!
But over in the corner, lonesome and dejected, ...
- 4,168
50
votes
5
answers
4k
views
How would the existence of large rideable flying creatures have changed the design of castles?
I'm thinking not only of the impact they would have had on how you would defend from an aerial attack, but also that they could be used for much more specific bombardment by dropping large rocks and ...
- 2,886
47
votes
17
answers
7k
views
Parachute equivalent when there is no ground
In this world wandwavium machines fly around with glee.
But, between one flying island and another, there is no ground.
Beneath your flying machine the air only gets denser, and denser, until ...
- 689
42
votes
16
answers
15k
views
How could a sail powered airship work?
I've been wondering if it's possible for an airship to fly by passive means - specifically, no engines (steam or otherwise).
I'm thinking in terms of a world where lighter-than-air gas (and it's ...
- 3,679
37
votes
10
answers
3k
views
Plausibility of Floating Whales
Ignoring the plausibility of their evolution and sources of food, could a whale-like creature which internally consists largely of hydrogen bladders/gasbags realistically stay aloft?
If these ...
- 10.9k
36
votes
19
answers
6k
views
How do I prevent flight in a cyberpunk future?
~200 years into the future, most of mankind has been wiped out by war. The remainder lives in walled supercities, to protect them from the hazards of the wastelands - including a nation of machines ...
- 3,170
35
votes
4
answers
84k
views
How big would a pair of wings need to be to allow an adult human to fly in a given environment?
Lets indulge in a bit of Mad Science, here.
Assuming the world described here: Making the Enterprise Fly
(60% of earth's gravity, 50% denser atmosphere) what is the wingspan needed to allow an ...
- 6,026
32
votes
19
answers
6k
views
How would one attack or lay siege to a flying castle?
So we already know that flying creatures are good at attacking castles. But what about a flying castle attacked by ground creatures?
Let's say we have ourselves a medium-sized castle built on a ...
32
votes
13
answers
9k
views
Humans can now fly. What happens to the transportation industry?
Let's pretend for a moment that right now, everybody on earth was given the ability of flight. What impact would this have on the modern-day transportation industry?
Physical restrictions on the ...
- 709
31
votes
13
answers
10k
views
What clothes would flying-people wear?
What clothing would people who have wings, and weren't prone to just being naked, choose to wear that wouldn't interfere with their flying?
Note: I am assuming arm-wings like a bird, but I know some ...
- 421
31
votes
10
answers
6k
views
Humans can now fly. What new laws are created?
Let's pretend for a moment that, right now, everybody on Earth was given the ability of flight. What new legislation would have to be passed to regulate this ability?
Physical restrictions on the ...
- 709
29
votes
7
answers
4k
views
How can I make steampunk airships less flimsy?
I've been thinking about a steampunk style world where a lot of the transport is done with balloon powered airships. Obviously there are conflicts and I'm trying to think of ways these craft could be ...
- 18.6k
28
votes
8
answers
6k
views
How do massive starships levitate?
This scene is commonly seen: A huge starship levitates over the surface of a planet or a moon, staying effortlessly in one place, or moving slowly around at the fixed height. But how?
Required ...
- 2,345
28
votes
5
answers
4k
views
How could a lightning magic user fly?
My first post on Worldbuilding, hello all!
So my question is what could be some interesting logic or thoughts behind having a lightning magic user being able to fly?
To quote another user who wanted ...
- 431
27
votes
25
answers
3k
views
How could flying soldiers influence medieval battle tactics?
Two medieval armies are fighting one another. Their infantries are approximately equal, and their artillery pieces are well matched. During one battle, they enter what appears to be a stalemate.
Then ...
- 99.8k
27
votes
11
answers
2k
views
Viability of Fixed-Wing Biological Flying Creatures?
How plausible are naturally-evolved, biological, fixed-wing flying creatures? Could such a creature plausibly evolve in Earth-like conditions? If so, what method would it be most likely to use for ...
- 10.9k
25
votes
1
answer
5k
views
How to make a flying human
We are in a future where genetics has advanced to a point where arbitrary modifications can be done to living beings. Now a geneticist wants to make a flying human. That is, he wants to modify a human ...
- 31.4k
24
votes
14
answers
7k
views
Possible cause of a world without flying animals
Consider an earth-like world without any flying species.
What could be the possible (I'm looking for a physics or chemistry/biology answer) cause of this?
Set aside trivial solutions as "random ...
- 806
23
votes
21
answers
6k
views
Are "bicycles" for flying species possible?
Flying is hard. Most flying species can lift comparatively minuscule amounts of mass in the air beside themselves. Flying is also exhausting, there are only so many species that can soar in the sky ...
- 8,779
23
votes
11
answers
3k
views
Biological Blimps: Propulsion
A while back, I asked this question about the plausibility of giant floating whales and received an excellent and high-scoring answer from Dubukay demonstrating that, given the assumptions that ...
- 10.9k
22
votes
12
answers
4k
views
Minimum tech level needed for a flying vehicle
What is the lowest, most basic technology level needed for a human population to be able to develop a reliable flying machine capable of transporting people over medium-short distances (at least a few ...
- 3,262
22
votes
8
answers
2k
views
Riding Flying Animals, sitting or lying on them?
A long time ago I asked a question about dragon saddlery(Dragon Riding Question) and later on how to pilot flying animals(How to pilot flying animals?), but recently I saw a lot of art on the internet ...
- 2,694
21
votes
18
answers
3k
views
Antiballast for flying ship
Your miners find some strange stones - they float to the ceiling of mines.
With those stones you can easily build an airship - just fill a sleek wooden hull with them and give the rowers some wing-...
- 4,157
21
votes
14
answers
6k
views
How to make a viable flying mount?
In the real world, humans have tamed horses and use them as mounts. Horses have very specific characteristics that make them a viable mount, such as size, back-strength, stamina, diet, behavior, etc. ...
- 3,262
21
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Why would people use flapping-wing instead of fixed-wing aircraft?
Ornithopters are vehicles that fly by flapping their wings, rather than trough use of a propeller or jet engine. They've been proposed and built many times throughout history, and are a common element ...
- 46.2k
21
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Evolution of giant floating mammals
Whales are majestic creatures of the sea, as they glide more gracefully through the water than their size should seemingly allow.
What kind of evolutionary path would it take for whales to glide ...
- 34.6k
20
votes
15
answers
5k
views
Would an evolutionary predecessor for winged quadrupeds start with four legs and gain wings? Or start with two legs and wings and gain extra legs?
Background
For a pair of games I am working on, I'm trying to work in a VERY basic evolutionary timeline for a lot of the more mythical creatures to set up design language of some of the creatures. ...
- 3,034
19
votes
11
answers
3k
views
What if Santa does not want Norad to track him?
The North American Aerospace Defense Command track Santa Claus' position each year as he delivers presents. Santa has mostly been cool with this (it's made him a little nervous in the past), but he's ...
- 12.7k
19
votes
15
answers
4k
views
Using physics - How can a character fly
I am writing a story in which the characters have some power over the physical world - literally able to transform their knowledge of physics into powers. I am trying to determine a good way for them ...
- 329
18
votes
15
answers
6k
views
How do I keep my futuristic racing hovercraft from becoming airplanes?
I'm working on a science fiction racing game that is centered around hovercraft that will race through various environments, both natural and man-made. I'm trying to establish a design language for ...
- 3,034
18
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Making the Enterprise Fly
No, not that one. This one.
I want to see the USS Enterprise fly, but I'm curious how it would be accomplished in any realistic fashion.
Now, the world I'm building that needs a flying Enterprise ...
- 6,026
18
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Designing a traffic system for flying cars
Well folks, 2015 has come and gone, and we still don't have widely-available flying cars. While there is some promising work being done on "flying cars", which are more like road-capable airplanes, it ...
- 3,755
17
votes
7
answers
3k
views
How to pilot flying animals?
I made a post a while ago about how to saddle a dragon. I recently remembered that, and another question came up: how to pilot a flying animal?
Land animals tend to run in the direction their heads ...
- 2,694
17
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Could you fly a Boeing 747 on Venus?
I have been making a future colonization scenario where people have vast colonies on Mars and cloud top bases on Venus. These things are unbelievably large. I've already thought of a way to travel ...
- 2,536
17
votes
9
answers
3k
views
How does a castle have sufficient anti-air defenses while still looking like a castle?
Castles, particularly Concentric Castles, are great to have against the technology of the time; swordsmen, crossbowmen. They're less great against ornery wizards and capricious dragons. The lords ...
user63
17
votes
4
answers
4k
views
How to let a Whale urh... fly? [duplicate]
I have read about flying sharks that hunt birds and great monstrous flying whales, so I would like to know how a whale could conceivably start 'flying' in real life. I'm gonna just set Blue Whales as ...
- 10.2k
16
votes
8
answers
2k
views
Powering a fixed-wing aircraft in the upper Venusian atmosphere
I am writing a short story about a fighter pilot on Venus, I was advised on my other post to break up the post into multiple others.
What are viable methods to power a fixed-wing aircraft in the upper ...
- 169
16
votes
9
answers
4k
views
Could there be an atmosphere in which I could both be alive and float?
There an atmospheres in which I can live, like Earth's. There are atmospheres in which I can float, like if it were a really heavy gas. Is there some atmospheric composition where I could both be ...
- 12.7k
15
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Can birds evolve without trees?
I wonder whether the birds or other flying animals heavier than air could evolve without trees of other protruding objects?
- 4,894
15
votes
12
answers
6k
views
How can a dragon take off to the air silently?
Imagine a dragon as tall as average adult horse with a wing span of 12m long measuring from tip to tip. I wonder what evolutionary traits or techniques could allow the dragon to lift itself off the ...
- 46.8k
15
votes
7
answers
3k
views
What kind of tactical situation/s would be best approached with trained jetpack pilots?
I'm writing a story where there's a civil war fought by people with weapons and technology based on 50s experimentals, kind of like a subtle "What-if" aesthetic.
How can I manipulate what ...
15
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Dragon breaking sound barriers unaided
Taking several notable real life inspirations from the animal kingdom I like to design a realistic Dragon towering any creature ever lived but has a nasty habit of generating sonic boom every where in ...
- 46.8k
14
votes
23
answers
7k
views
How to prevent the evolution of human flight?
The more I look at it, the more my world seems to resemble the world of Avatar the Last Airbender, but instead of benders I have casters which are capable of unique talents (combat magic, enhancements,...
- 2,351
14
votes
9
answers
5k
views
Is there a reason a flying species can't use lighter than air gas to help provide lift? [duplicate]
I was generally considering the idea of a flying species that uses lighter than air (LTA) gas to help provide lift, allowing it to have a larger mass than flying species can usually attend. I used ...
- 33.5k
14
votes
4
answers
3k
views
If a dragon could fly without magical assistance, how much force could a dragon exert in directed air attacks using the force of its wings?
I plan to have dragons in my fantasy setting and wanted to figure out just how much force their wings would need to generate in order for them to fly.
Rules for dragons in this setting:
Dragons, and ...
- 3,034
14
votes
5
answers
2k
views
How would a four or five winged creature, such as a microraptor, fly?
Microraptors are cretaceous-period dinosaurs with feathered wings on both their forelimbs and back-limbs.
Despite this, they are not considered 'true flyers' as it is believed they used their five '...
- 588