What Would Happen If Humans Could Fly?

Publish date: 2024-05-18

Birds aren't necessarily known for being buff. But we would need to be in order to fly around all the time (via The What If Show). Flying would take up a lot of energy, and the heavier you are, the harder gravity would work against you. Many people would likely view flying as an exercise activity and still opt to walk, bike, or drive places. Additionally, there are many features in birds' lightweight bodies that allow them to fly. 

For starters, their bones are lighter, and their wingspan is balanced with their body size. Because humans are so large, we would need to have a wingspan of about 23 feet in order to take flight (per The What If Show). But we wouldn't be able to flap our wings and take off like an average bird — we'd likely need launch pads and ramps, but more on that later. Birds also have strong chests, with hummingbirds' pectoral muscles accounting for up to 25% of their total mass (per "Dimensional relationships for flying animals"). To put it simply, we would need to be stronger than bodybuilders ... so don't skip chest day.

Something that would be a little more difficult is changing our bone structure. Because our bones would need to be light and brittle to fly, we would need to have stronger collar bones with clavicles in the shape of a wishbone (via Science Focus). We'd also need the "keel" bone that birds have protruding from their chests, which helps with leverage.

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