> I've read previously that you can move up to 12 miles in any direction while falling if you aim for it.
Skydiver here. You could manage a mile or two; no more. But both this and changing your body position is quite a bit harder than you might think. You have to push against the air in quite a counter-intuitive manner. A beginner will just flail about and probably start spinning; especially without any tuition.
Yeah. Somebody who's really good at "tracking" (flying horizontally) can fall at about a 45 degree angle. So, from a couple miles up, ...
Another thing not mentioned is that terminal velocity decreases as the air gets more dense. So, if you fall four miles, you can't track four miles -- the 45 degree thing is based on dense air.
Skydiver here. You could manage a mile or two; no more. But both this and changing your body position is quite a bit harder than you might think. You have to push against the air in quite a counter-intuitive manner. A beginner will just flail about and probably start spinning; especially without any tuition.