What's the average speed of a pegasus?

[Senko 459]

I'm not looking for X MPH or the like just what do you think the average speed is in terms of travel can they get to places faster than a train (as long it doesn't require them to rest due to distance), what about if they're towing a chariot? Just trying to wrap my head around when a princess would fly, ride in the chariot, take the train or teleport (which is more a matter or range since we know Celestia at least can get from Canterlot to Ponyville).

[Sunny Fox 5,952]

What's the average speed of a pegasus? African or European? 

I guess it depends on the pegasus. Rainbow Dash covered a big distance in one episode to find Spitfire, but she's an exceptional case. I'd say at least faster than a train over short distances, but overland, a touch slower due to needing rest.

 

[Senko 459]

Hence why I specified average not an exceptional flyer like Dash or a poor one like Fluttershy just a normal reasonably fit pegasus.

[Brony Number 42 10,069]

This would be answered by deciding how fast you wanted them to be when you design the show. You don't want them to be too fast or else a lot of problems could be solved by having pegasi fly really fast to get help or whatever.

That would mean they are slower than a train, so that Rainbow Dash can't just fly to Canterlot in 10 minutes. But also faster then an earth pony can run, I would say.

[Gainsborough 50]

DANGIT! Someone already made the Monty Python joke!

Also I'd say normal pegasi can go about... 40? 50 miles per hour? Basically an average car.

[BornAgainBrony 2,397]

Anyone's guess... most of what we get to see are Wonderbolts, who are the Equestrian Airforce. Comparing them to jet fighters, cruise speed would be about 1/5 the speed of sound (sonic rainboom). Arguably all of the Wonderbolts could reach 0.99 of Mach 1. Dash's struggle with achieving the rainboom wasn't strength vs. wind resistance, but the ability to maintain stable flight without losing control.

[CypherHoof 26,483]

21 minutes ago, bornAgainEquestrian said:

Anyone's guess... most of what we get to see are Wonderbolts, who are the Equestrian Airforce. Comparing them to jet fighters, cruise speed would be about 1/5 the speed of sound (sonic rainboom). Arguably all of the Wonderbolts could reach 0.99 of Mach 1. Dash's struggle with achieving the rainboom wasn't strength vs. wind resistance, but the ability to maintain stable flight without losing control.

According to an earlier post Faust said one wingpower is roughly 9.1MPH; I don't know how accurate that is, but in Hurricane Fluttershy Dashie seemed to think that 10 wingpower was a reasonable goal for the average pegasus pony, so lets go with that?

[Senko 459]

2 hours ago, Cypherhoof said:

According to an earlier post Faust said one wingpower is roughly 9.1MPH; I don't know how accurate that is, but in Hurricane Fluttershy Dashie seemed to think that 10 wingpower was a reasonable goal for the average pegasus pony, so lets go with that?

 

Interesting so 91 MPH or 146 KMH as an average speed with ones like Dash able to hit Mach speeds and near flash ones over a short sprint (secrets and pies) assuming those wing powers are cruising/sustainable speeds not short max speed runs. According to my google-fu a 1950ish steam train could average 20 to 80 mph depending on a number of factors like the quality of the line its running on (and bearing in mind this is average speed with stops for water/coal/etc). So an unladen pegasus is faster but probably loses out on very long distance flight/heavy loads as pulling chariots and the like would manage to carry less than a train plus slow them down.

[CypherHoof 26,483]

24 minutes ago, Senko said:

 

Interesting so 91 MPH or 146 KMH as an average speed with ones like Dash able to hit Mach speeds and near flash ones over a short sprint (secrets and pies) assuming those wing powers are cruising/sustainable speeds not short max speed runs. According to my google-fu a 1950ish steam train could average 20 to 80 mph depending on a number of factors like the quality of the line its running on (and bearing in mind this is average speed with stops for water/coal/etc). So an unladen pegasus is faster but probably loses out on very long distance flight/heavy loads as pulling chariots and the like would manage to carry less than a train plus slow them down.

Although wingpower IS magic so may not be subject to the expected rules vs mass - if we look at /Pinkie Keen/, Fluttershy, who is known to be a weak flyer, can comfortably support a cartful of frogs, and saddlebags full of frogs, AND a basket of the things, without the cart dipping noticably behind her or any visible strain. Similarly, a pair of pegasus ponies can support the entire weight of a moving van, laden with anvils, pianos and so forth, again without any visible strain.

[Landi 600]

It's really hard to tell. In my mind, 1 wingpower = 10 Mph, so therefore the average would be around 90-100 mph. That would make pegasi slightly faster than trains. Although considering endurance, a pegasus flying to her destination would be less efficient than her just taking the train (depending on the distance to said location). Now, where this head-canon gets shaky is the fact that Rainbow can break the sound barrier when her wingpower is only 16.5. That's why I just don't think too hard about it.

[Denim&Venöm 19,140]

There was some calculations done based off the Sonic Rainbow episode. Over simplifying things, RD flew as fast as Mach 5 pre-rainboom. If those are peak athlete speeds, then your average Pegasus can probably go half that. So the average Pegasus speed is around mach 2 i'm guessing? 

Keep in mind that while they could go pretty far flying that that speed, it would probably be only for a few minutes, the equivalent to a sprint. So maybe for casual flying speed, they could muster a quarter their max, say 500mph. That'd still be as fast as a commercial airliner. With the maneuverability we see out of the ponies in the air, it can't be anything under triple digit speeds.