Usefulness of Aircraft in Equestria

[SidewinderX 4]

(Staff, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forum, but I couldn't find anything that really worked)

 

I have been thinking over the plausibility of aircraft in Equestria for a fic I want to write (think WWII combined with the NLR/SE combined with the Civil War), and I think it has merit. Why? Three reasons: endurance, capacity, and speed. The first is the most obvious; a modern 737-700 has a max takeoff weight of 154,000 lbs. A Heinkel He-111 could carry 4,400 lbs of bombs 1,212 miles. That certainly outstrips any pegasus's carrying capacity. That last number also applies to my next point: endurance. Modern long-range aircraft can fly 11,000 miles without refueling. Pegasi need rest, and even with that they certainly can't go that far in any reasonable amount of time. Finally, all but the slowest planes (looking at you, Wright Flyer) can outrun pegasi to a comfortable amount. 1 wingpower equals about 9 MPH according to Faust, and the pegasi in Hurricane Fluttershy seemed to think that 10 wingpower was rather impressive. So we can assume that 10 wingpower (90 mph) is the high end of average for pegasi. A single-engine Bf-109 fighter plane can go 426 MPH in level flight. A Boeing 737 can go 544 miles per hour. Even the slower He-111 that I used for an example earlier can reach 270 MPH. 

 

Pegasi can't outperform aircraft in combat, either. Although they might have the edge in maneuverability, they cannot carry either the amount of weapons, armor, or ammunition that even smaller planes carry as basic armament. A fighter can merely run away, turn around, and take down the pegasus without much danger at all. This discrepancy becomes even more pronounced with modern jets, who could engage pegasi at beyond visual range with radar guided air-to-air missiles. Bombers are still far faster than average pegasi, and can carry more explosives further. Machine guns, especially when fired en masse, can put out enough fire to stop large numbers of pegasi, and they can penetrate clouds. This means that once pegasi expose themselves, the chances of using clouds as cover are nearly nonexistent. Unicorn magic could also be used to enchant parts of the to make them magic-resistant, or give fighters all-around HUDs.

 

Add all this to the fact that plane engines have generally proved themselves to be dangerous to other flying things, and planes have serious potential to replace pegasi in combat, long-range cargo, and passenger flights.

 

What do you think? Would planes be viable in the MLP universe?

Edited 3 hours ago by SidewinderX