Flight to London - Speed Questioned

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 71759

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Random <random832 at r...> wrote:
> 
> On Saturday, Jul 19, 2003, at 17:21 America/Indianapolis, 
> Steve wrote:
> >... Thestrals ... I believe ...(magically) fly at an apparent 50 
> > mph but cover ground at a rate of 500 mph. 

> 
> Why can't they just be flying at 500mph, period? Where do we get the 
> impression of an "apparent 50mph" or any other 'apparent' speed? the 
> ONLY possible point of reference is the ground covering speed.
> 
> --Random832

bboy_mn:

I'm sure I mentioned windchill and wind turbulence. Haven't you ever
stuck your arm out of a car going 50 mph? OK... now multiply that by
10. Wind turbulence at 500mph would rip your head off. Pilots who
eject from their planes at that speed frequenlty sustain substantial
injuries from the sudden blast of 500 mph air. 

Then wind chill, at 500mph you wouldn't last more than a minute or two
before you were frozen into delirium. 

You simply can not fly at 500mph in the open. 

Many light airplane disintigrate under the structural stress of flying
at that speed. People are far more fragile that airplanes.

So, the only logical way to get there in a resonable amount of time
under those conditions, is magic. I simply outlined a likely means by
which that particular magic would manifest itself.  

As to the only possible point of reference being the ground speed, if
you apparate 500 miles in 2 seconds, your apparent ground speed is
900,000mph. Talk about wind chill.

So, what is the ground speed if you Floo 140 miles from Ottery St.
Catchpole in Devon to London in 2 minutes? 4,200 mph!

Otter St Catchpole's Stoad Hill to Quidditch World Cup in Scotland
(500 miles; best guess) in say 5 minutes by portkey? 6,000 mph.

Those things aren't physically possible. The human body could never
withstand it, so the only possible solution is magic. 

Again, I simply describe a likely manifestation of that magic.

bboy_mn