physically, what is stoping humans from having “flying bicycles”?

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“Japanese Student Takes Flight of Fancy, Creates Flying Bicycle” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJrJE0r4NkU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJrJE0r4NkU)

*Edit: Far beyond regulations and air traffic control issues, only regarding to physics:*

I’ve just seen this video of a Japanese student that has achieved making a flight of about 200 or 300m with a mechanism that turns the pedalling we normally do in a bicycle to the turning of a propeller.

Now, if we as humans and a very great bike can reach 40-50 mph (and very light planes such as cessna can take of with only 60mph – not to mention Bush Planes – all of these weighting easely 4 to 5 times the weight of a person + an extra light airplane design, specifically created for that porpouse) – why does this seems too hard to achieve/sustain? I can only guess its a matter of efficiency (or the lack of it), but which one of them?

In: Physics

34 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The main issue with flying bicycles / cars is that by flying, you are adding another dimension to navigation and traffic and safety considerations. How do you keep flying bicycles / cars from colliding in the air? What kind of air routes would need to be set up to keep air traffic from interfering with each other as well as airplanes and helicopters? Pilots get hundreds of hours of training and practice before they can fly. Who would do that just to fly a bicycle? 1 or two flying bikes is a novelty and does not need a lot of regulation, but imagine tens of thousands flying around. It would be a disaster.

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