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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SiderisAnon" data-source="post: 3348621" data-attributes="member: 44949">I've run into a physics of flight question in my new campaign, and I'm hoping some of you out there can help me figure it out. It has been a lot of years since college physics, and I'm not sure if I've got this right.  (I realize I could hand-wave it all away as magic, but that doesn't sit well with me or most of my players.)There are several flying races in my campaign. Two are medium sized, one is tiny sized. I'm using the tiny sized as an example because I've got a player who is going to be playing one.A pixie is on a ship at sea, which is moving along at a good clip. The pixie takes flight from the deck and hovers. I know that if the ship is accelerating, once the pixie is not in contact with the deck, the ship is no longer accelerating the pixie along with itself, so the pixie is going to either be left behind or get hit by the raised wheel deck when it catches up with her. If the ship turns, it will turn right out from under the pixie.What happens if the ship is neither accelerating or turning and stays at a steady speed? Unless the pixie's fly speed is sufficient to keep up with the ship, wouldn't the ship leave the pixie behind? (Or smack her into the rear wall?) From what I remember of physics, I believe that is exactly what would happen to a bird let fly from the deck, but since it's been a while, I might not be remembering correctly.Would it be technically true that if the ship was moving faster than the pixie could fly, the pixie stays with the ship briefly because she was already moving at the ship's speed. Then as wind resistance and other factors slow the pixie down to her normal flight speed, the ship starts pulling away from her? (From her perspective, the ship is moving ahead.) The same problem would occur in a wagon or a train. (There are steam engines in parts of my world.) The conveyance will accelerate away, leaving the pixie behind, unless she is standing on the deck or sitting in a chair, because there is no force acting on her to keep her with the train or wagon; right?If my understanding of the physics is true, I am thinking that pixies in my world dislike ships and trains and wagons because of this. They can only make small hops to fly around, unless the vehicle is moving slowly, because otherwise they end up sliding toward the back of the vehicle.So can anyone confirm that the physics are right or tell me what the correct physics are?</blockquote>

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