If I just suddenly gained the power to fly but no other gifts, what would be my top safest airspeed with proper warm clothing? Assume my potential is unlimited.
Based on my experience with open cockpit airplanes, anything over 70-80 mph will probably be uncomfortable. Get some warm motorcycle gear you can probably crank it up to 100 or so
The broom is right. Get some goggles, heated gloves, and vest, you could do 100 mph.
Complicated question. You’d be dealing with temperature and wind resistance/wind chill issues as well as reaction speed. But (adequately dressed) people seem to do just fine sky diving and Yves Rossy’s jet/flight suit combo has apparently hit 200 mph.
So, I’d guess that 200mph is do-able with helmet and aerodynamic flight suit. Much higher and you’d really be getting into some wind resistance issues that could result in some nasty injuries. Superman does fine flying with his hands in front of him, presumably breaking up the air flow. But at 200+ mph, not only would that be extremely tiring but if you catch a bad air current and your arm gets caught by the wind, I could see a nasty dislocation happening.
Coincidentally, I would guess that 200mph is about right for reaction speed as well – that’s about the point where human reaction time starts to be severely challenged and even experienced race car drivers start pranging their cars into each other and walls. For any kind of obstructed flight, low enough to encounter trees, buildings, or power lines, 200 mph (300 feet/second!) would be the upper limit on speed and realistically, you’d do better keeping it much lower.
100 miles an hour on an unfaired motorcycle with just a basic helmet and jacket isn’t particularly uncomfortable (though earplugs are a good idea.) Being able to do the classic Superman pose is going to be even better in terms of not catching the wind than even a tucked-in riding position. (Obligitory Rollie Free picture: Rollie Free - Wikipedia)
Of course the bigger question is altitude. Are you able to pack oxygen? If so the thing to do would be to stick with maybe 200 MPH-ish airspeed but zoom up to really high altitude where that equivalent airspeed is at a near supersonic ground speed.
The things is, skydivers are only buffeted briefly.
Yes, you can build a tolerance to the conditions, and withstand higher speeds briefly, but after an hour or so at 80-100 mph you can wind up feeling a bit beat up by the constant buffeting/air pressure from your forward movement. We tend to forget that air has mass and density because at normal human walking speed we just aren’t aware of it. Speed up a bit, you suddenly realize it’s not “empty air”, this atmosphere thing is an actual thing.
The other bit is having to keep track of what’s going on around you. Get up around 200 mph or faster you really have to be thinking ahead to avoid problems, especially at lower altitudes.
And with no other powers, mass and “G” forces still need to be dealt with.
Lets say a person is flying 100 mph. If they were to pass close to a small single engine plane, could the air forces around them cause enough turbulence to knock the plane out?
What about 200 mph?
Doubtful. The person is a lot smaller than an aeroplane and isn’t creating any significant lift. Most wake turbulence from an aircraft comes from the lift generated by the wings but even then, a light aircraft flying through the wake of another light aircraft doesn’t suffer anything other than a slight bump.