How can black holes be used for daredevil gravity slingshot sport?

This is set in the same universe as my Andromeda galactic war question (same tech level). In this question, I had somewhat purposely labelled the galactic core as "off-limits" (black holes and other nasty things).

However, young fighter-jocks use this space for training and recreation - so much so that it's a broadcast sport.

Black holes can be used as gravity slingshots, and this has turned into an event in itself where pilots attempt to out-do each other in terms of exit speeds from the slingshot before manually shooting at a target.

In order for this to be credible in the story, I'll need some help:

• How much acceleration could you get from using a black hole as a gravity slingshot?
• What might happen if you got slightly too close during the attempt?

Assume that pilots have tech that helps them withstand g-forces, but it has limits - manually shooting at a target on exit demonstrates the ability to continue fighting after extreme-G manoeuvres.

Black holes being used here are Intermediate in size (lets pick one of 5,000 solar masses)

As before, there's no time dilation effects in this fiction - it's lots of gravity and lots of speed.

posted about 7 years ago

System‭

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