Flying Warsteed: It's a bird! It's a plane!

“Look, up in the sky!"

"It's a bird."

"It's a plane".

"It's Supergirl!"

"Yes, it's Supergirl! Strange visitor from another planet who came to Middle Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.”

Often I have been asked if my steeds also fly. Well, of course! But, they don’t fly by themselves, silly. Only with me at the helm will they achieve flight.

Explaining flight to hobbits

While out with Gandalf in the Shire, I was once asked by a group of hobbits, “How do I do that??”

Hmm… how to explain… do I start with Bernoulli’s principle of fluid dynamics? That still would not explain how Newton’s laws of motion apply or actually explain how lift is affected by power, the cut angle of the horse’s head like a foil through the air, or the downwash of air.

    Dana: “Well, lil hobbits, you need to understand Force equals mass times acceleration. Work that with Newton’s first law of equal and opposite reaction where what the horse’s mass does to the air is actually the action and the result of “lift” is the reaction…”

(Hobbit eyes get wide and glaze over…)

   Gandalf interjects: and whispers to me, just say, “Defies explanation”… and turns to the hobbits and says “She is Magic.”

Hobbits cheer and go back to drinking pints.

    Dana: /sigh. You totally ruined my lecture. I had graphs and charts.

Gandalf smiles a knowing smile and takes another puff of his pipe...

Launching a flying Warsteed

I have posted some flights on occasion.

Me flying to the moon… (fall-festivals-end-new-beginning)

Horse catching some air and taking off… (treasure-hunt-bilbos-birthday-and-cstm)

Here is Elyita taking her pony out for a flight…  (Ponyloversanonymous (i-believe-i-can-fly))

However, this was my first time setting the Traits to launch a Warsteed. I had previously wondered if I had lift power to get a 2000 lb horse off the ground. Challenge accepted.

With his ears back, I cut low to reduce drag and gain some speed. We are not launching one of those lil steeds today; this is not your grandma’s glider.

Sturdy back legs plant feet firmly and launch upward using the steed’s strength. With my own natural lift (I am Supergirl after all) and a tight grip, I pull the warsteed upward amplifying his jump.

Flight is achieved. Simple! (...or as the legend goes, "strong as a freight train").

I guess charts are not required.

On this flight we took off out over the sea. 

Hang on horsey!

Watch it now… 

don’t lose altitude or you will become a SeaHorse.

Alrighty. Hmm… cow jumped over the moon? Challenge accepted.

Let’s take a flight around the moon, because a warsteed will not be beaten by some cow.

The clouds part before me like orcs being Trampled under foot.

Warsteed Traits? Yes… I did mention that…

Tune in next week… I am working on a multi-post for warsteed traits (rohan-warsteed-traiting-part-1).
Charts may be involved. :D