"There is a crew that has wind speed meters and they follow what the weather does, " Hofman said.

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Its dihedral doors open on one hinge, slanting upward for ease of ingress, and the massive side vents sitting on the rear wheels telegraph sheer speed from meters away.

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The airplane reached a cruising altitude of 19, 000 feet (5, 791 meters), and a speed of up to 250 knots, or about 288 miles per hour (463 kilometers).

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They are gathered up and injected into the quantum experiment at speeds of around five meters per second - just a hundredth the speed of the molecules flying around in the air.

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Experiments measured the forces and acceleration of a regulation, adult-size-5 ball propelled repeatedly at a magnesium dummy-like head at 18 meters per second, which is considered the average speed a ball is kicked by nonprofessional players.

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His explosive speed off the mark has seen him timed at 3.69 seconds for those opening 30 meters.

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With a Parajet on your back, you can fly up to 2, 500 meters (8, 000 feet), traveling a distance of 160km (100 miles) at a speed of up to 75kph (46mph).

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