To be faaaair, the cheetah reaches 100+ km/h on it’s own merits, the dumb falcon just falls really fast
If you drop a whale from space it will probably beat that speed record while falling, the falcon doesn’t get extra credit just because he can get up there and survive without help
I had a pretty cool encounter with one about 6-7 years ago, I was on a driving holiday and we were cruising throught the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park doing about 90-100km and one of these guys just casually comes up to my window, so close I could have grabbed it. It must have picked some drag effect off the van like a wake in the air or something and it was just gliding next to us with the occasional flap for a good 5 minutes until there was an incoming car and it ducked out
To be faaaair, the cheetah reaches 100+ km/h on it’s own merits, the dumb falcon just falls really fast
If you drop a whale from space it will probably beat that speed record while falling, the falcon doesn’t get extra credit just because he can get up there and survive without help
A bowl of petunias would beat the falcon at some points in its descent from space. Possibly over and over again.
Straight horizontal max speed flight for the falcon is 110-130 km/h though, so still very fast even when not falling.
I had a pretty cool encounter with one about 6-7 years ago, I was on a driving holiday and we were cruising throught the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park doing about 90-100km and one of these guys just casually comes up to my window, so close I could have grabbed it. It must have picked some drag effect off the van like a wake in the air or something and it was just gliding next to us with the occasional flap for a good 5 minutes until there was an incoming car and it ducked out
That must have been incredible!
Okay, show me a cheetah running in microgravity.
There ain’t no way a whale’s terminal velocity reaches 240 mph. The falcon’s credit comes from the fact that it can make itself so aerodynamic.