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Worldbuilding

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  • $\begingroup$ Bats fly perfectly fine relying on echolocation. They do typically have good eyesight, but they don't rely on it. $\endgroup$
    – Baldrickk
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 16:05
  • $\begingroup$ @Baldrickk Sure, I meant flying by plane, since that is what I think the OP implies in the question. But yes, if the aliens can fly like a bat, then I guess there's no need for planes. $\endgroup$
    – tfrascaroli
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 16:07
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    $\begingroup$ Ah, my bad ;) I could see paragliding or microlights working well as early aircraft, until some sort of radar sensing system could be developed in that case - the biggest hurdle being how to inform the pilot of what the radar is sensing. $\endgroup$
    – Baldrickk
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 16:09
  • $\begingroup$ @Baldrickk Yes, I was thinking about that. I think the most obvious would be sound, since smell is hard to integrate with electronics, and I don't think it would be the first approach. Other methods could be a vibrating vest, like you "feel" the pressure where the terrain/other objects is closest to you. I really don't know if that makes sense, I guess that's up to the OP to decide. $\endgroup$
    – tfrascaroli
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 16:15
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    $\begingroup$ Honestly, radar probably translates readily into echolocation. Humans have to go through the process of translating radio echoes into a visual format so that we can interpret them. Echolocating aliens likely would have a much simpler time of things. $\endgroup$
    – Arkenstein XII
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 2:39