What if humans could fly?
The commute moves to the sky. Rooftops become front doors. One windy day can shut down a whole city.
Above the morning traffic. None of the cars below have moved in ten minutes.
0.4%chance it
ever happens
0.4%chance this ever happens
Could it actually happen?
Our bodies are built for walking. To lift an adult you would need wings around seven metres across, and chest muscles far bigger than a human frame can carry. Jetpacks and wingsuits already exist, but there a machine is doing the flying. The small chance that remains is for something stranger, like rebuilding the body itself.
Day 1
Someone steps off a roof and doesn’t come down. Three streets later they are still up there, and every phone in the neighbourhood is pointing at the sky.
Within a week, millions of people have tried it. Emergency rooms fill up with sprained ankles and broken wrists, because taking off is easy and landing is not.
Year 1
Rooftops become entrances. Offices cut a door onto the roof and paint a landing circle next to it. The top floor used to be the long way up. Now it’s the most convenient place to live.
Schools add flying lessons next to swimming lessons. Cities draw up air lanes and height limits, and the first fines go out for flying over a neighbour’s garden.
Year 10
Rush hour happens thirty metres up. Children fly to school in supervised groups, the way they once walked in pairs. The streets below are quieter, left to delivery vans and to anyone who would rather keep their feet on the ground.
The weather forecast matters more than it ever did. On a stormy day nobody flies, and the buses and stairwells are packed again.
Who wins
- People on the top floorThe least popular flat in the building becomes the best one overnight.
- Roofers and buildersEvery flat roof needs a door, railings and a landing circle.
- Anyone stuck in trafficThe road is still jammed. You’re just no longer on it.
Who loses
- Street-level shopsPeople used to walk past the window. Now they pass overhead.
- Airlines, on short routesWhy queue at an airport for a trip you can fly yourself?
- PrivacyA high fence means very little when the neighbours can fly over it.
The catch
Flying is hard work. A bird in the air burns energy many times faster than a bird at rest, and so would you. Most people would land at the office sweaty, starving and ready for a second breakfast.
Would you fly to work?
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