# Dreaming of flying: the mechanics **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680 "2003-10-05T07:00:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/1 "2003-10-05T07:00:27Z")
Like many people, or perhaps all, I sometimes dream of flying. I always find it exhilirating. If I could dream such every night, I have no doubt I would. Recently, I have asked others about this. When you dream of flying, how does it occur? I often dream of jumping, with ever increasing _sproing_ - each leap higher than the last, like a nuclear kangaroo. But sometimes I feel it as a physical sensation of controlled repulsion, like “pushing” against the earth in some inexplicable way. Do you dream of flying? What are the “mechanics” of the dream? ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/2 "2003-10-05T07:03:11Z")
I control mine telekinetically. I can feel myself concentrating and causing myself to levitate and fly. Sometimes I have to start off by making myself jump higher and higher, or sometimes I can effortlessly spring miles into the air in a second and hover there, planning my next move. I can also fly in space without any protection. Once I flew to the moon, that was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/3 "2003-10-05T07:09:20Z")
When I fly successfully, I sort of jump off the ground and don’t stop going up until I’m high enough. But my jump is rather irrelevant, really. I basically go to the height of the wires on telephone poles, unless I go into the clouds or hover feet above the ground. If I need to go higher than the trees I do two jumps. When I don’t fly successfully it’s like being on a trampoline going very, very slow motion. Or maybe a moon bounce. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/4 "2003-10-05T07:36:42Z")
I just leap into the air and fly. Arching my back works as a sort of aileron and torsioning my thorax allows me to bank. I’ve flown with people riding on my back and even glided around indoors. I’ve also piloted large multiengine propeller driven warbirds in my dreams, complete with sluggish stick and treetops in the screws. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/5 "2003-10-05T09:38:35Z")
Just look out for the power lines. If ya touch em you’ll fry. In my flying dreams, I always seem to be magneticly attracted to power lines. I am sure it means something, but I don’t wanna know what. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/6 "2003-10-05T09:50:28Z")
Bounding low-g sproing, check. Often I don’t fly so much as make great gliding steps with only the slightest touch of foot to ground for the next. A lot of the shots in _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_, minus all the kung-fu, gave me a real sense of dream deja-vu. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/7 "2003-10-05T14:55:40Z")
Of course, if you speak, you’ll come crashing down. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/8 "2003-10-05T15:18:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > **I often dream of jumping, with ever increasing _sproing_ - each leap higher than the last, like a nuclear kangaroo.** Wow, me too, though not in the context of flying. Sometimes I dream I go so high that I’m terrified that I’ll go _splat_ if I don’t land correctly. It’s a scary/exciting/disturbing kind of feeling in the dream. I don’t know what it means either. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/9 "2003-10-05T16:43:19Z")
My flying dreams involve some kind of machine, either a Cessna or an ultralight. Considering that I’m a big guy, it’s a safe bet that I won’t be piloting either one in real life. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/10 "2003-10-05T17:32:32Z")
With me it’s like gravity stops affecting me. Sometimes that’s a bad thing. I’m being chased by something, or I have to get somewhere and I pump my legs, but they just slide on the ground and I get nowhere. Other times I float up, and back down, and float higher and higher til I’m floating way above the trees. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/11 "2003-10-05T17:35:39Z")
Mine involves a feeling of weightlessness, so I guess you’d say I’m diverting the gravitons around myself, or some such technobabble. I just will myself to go up, and I do. The funny thing is that it usually takes a considerable effort of will to stay in flight, because part of my mind is firmly convinced that humans cannot fly unassisted. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/12 "2003-10-05T17:48:28Z")
Mine works like Superman, basically. However, a few times during flying dreams, I’ve wondered, “Hey, how am I doing this?” And then I lose my powers and sink to the ground. It’s best not to ask questions about this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Forbin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Forbin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Forbin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/13 "2003-10-05T18:00:21Z")
Long ago I had a dream of flying that I’ll never forget. Flying dreams must symbolize overcoming obstacles or limitations I suppose, and that was consistant with how this dream felt. I was in a darkened cavern, or some such thing, faced with dangers and challenges I can’t specifically identify. Then I changed my situation. I _willed_ it to stop. (Great how you can do that in dreams, huh?) Suddenly, without explanation, I was flying, Supermanlike. I was soaring high above a desert mesa type enviornment, like Monument Valley. The sun was low in the sky, like dawn, and cast golden beams on the towering edifaces of red stone. The capper was the music. A loud sustained chord from a pipe organ, exultant, deafening. Triumph! I have never forgotten that dream, and it has been twenty two or three years. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/14 "2003-10-05T19:48:25Z")
I suppose I should have mentioned the _how_ of my flight dreams. It’s almost like swimming. I kinda push off by leaping while pushing against the air somehow, with my arms. Once I am in the air, I seem to move by sheer force of will. (As long as I can avoid the damn power lines.) ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/15 "2003-10-05T20:00:46Z")
Mine are like swimming in air. I feel the resistance of the air, as I push it away with my arms. As a kid, I used to dive to the bottom of the deep end of the pool, crouch low and then enact that same flying up towards the sunlight I knew from my dreams. However, when I’m up at treetop-heigth, I usually can glide on, like a bird, without my arms getting tired. Clever use of thermodynamics, probably.🙂 Interesting that most posters either use bird-perspective or aeroplane-perspective when flying. I also have always have to look out for power wires and streetcar-lines, too. In other dreams, when I am not corpeoral, I drift up and away like a wisp of smoke. Or like a drop of ink that falls into a glass of water that has just been stirred. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/16 "2003-10-05T22:23:04Z")
Another ‘swimmer’ here. Anybody else ever investigate an interesting rooftop or tower, lose your nerve and get stuck? ---
**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/17 "2003-10-05T23:29:59Z")
I just kinda ‘hover’ sometimes only an inch off the ground. If i want to go up, i do, it’s very easy to control. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/18 "2003-10-06T00:20:56Z")
What fascinates me about this is how many people have such similar experiences, when in theory none of us should know what it feels like to actually do this. One has to wonder where all that data is coming from. The most consistent aspect for me is a frustrating inability to fly as I’d like to. Either I can barely get off the ground, and go skating along the sidewalks on a cushion of air just thick enough to eliminate friction (like rollerblading without the skates); or if I _do_ get airborne (usually via testing to see if I can and swimming into the air), it’s difficult to stay aloft very long. I struggle to keep some sort of internal balance, without which I drop back to earth. I also seem to land on the very edge of rooves and high places: the curiosity to see them causes me to lose buoyancy, so that I barely make it to them while still afloat. Then I have to remind myself that since I flew up there, it won’t hurt to jump off. One interesting variation that only happened once was having a contraption like a pocket parachute: two handles on cords about 2-3 feet long and a canopy about 3 feet in diameter. I could hold onto the handles and catch a breeze, and that would be enough to lift me and carry me around…at least until my arms got tired. Powerlines are always something to watch out for. I’m not attracted to them or anything, but they’re _everywhere_. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/19 "2003-10-06T06:00:14Z")
Anybody ever dream that you could move like Spider-Man? Jump 30 feet straight up, flip, kick off a wall, swing around a lamp-post, do a triple backflip, and land on top of a speeding car… I’ve dreamed stuff like that many times, and I actually think it’s more fun than the flying dream. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680/20 "2003-10-06T07:26:44Z")
I don’t dream very often, and remember them even less often. The few flying ones that I do recall always seem to either be with me controlling some type of flying machine, typically a standard airplane-type (but not always), or with me being some combination of super-jumper with spiderman like ability to swing from wires which I possess and grapple with via some bond-type device. Confused yet? Whatever the case, I’m always a bad-ass 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dreaming-of-flying-the-mechanics/205680.md?page=2)