• Question: will people ever be able to fly

    Asked by lee.o to Aislinn, Fiona, Nathan, Padraic, Sinead on 30 Jan 2015.
    • Photo: Sinead Quirke

      Sinead Quirke answered on 30 Jan 2015:

      People can fly in aeroplanes or gliders, balloons or helicopters, gyro planes or paragliders. On our own we can’t fly because we cannot generate enough lift.

    • Photo: Nathan Quinlan

      Nathan Quinlan answered on 31 Jan 2015:

      And there are wingsuits and human-powered aeroplanes (e.g. Gossamer Albatross). There’s a human-powered helicopter (www.aerovelo.com) and a pedal-powered aeroplane with flapping wings (www.ornithopter.ca) that can just about get off the ground. Some people jump out of aeroplanes with wingsuits on and turbojet engines strapped to their ankles (which I don’t recommend). So humans can fly!

    • Photo: Aislinn Coghlan

      Aislinn Coghlan answered on 9 Feb 2015:

      Not without some engineering!

      We can fly in planes and spaceships. And there are some sports that involve flying like you have wings, such as base jumping.

      Who knows, maybe personal jet packs will be all the fashion in 40 years!

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