> you are also shifting an enormous amount of air,
> quite enough to blow
> trees and buildings over. If its wings are beating
> anything like
> that fast its progress is going to be marked by a
> swathe of devastation at least a km. wide
I believe this is correct and already docuemnted, isn't it?
> and the caravan of bat support staff is going to be
> some distance behind to avoid being blown away.
Yes.
> I'd go for a flap taking several minutes in normal
> flight
To avoid the damage, yes, but do we want this?
> It would seem incredibly slow to an observer
> at a reasonable distance
It'll seem so slow that it would give rise to these ideas that the Bat glides. Not that that invalidates the idea.
Try visualising my four second flap. Now compare it with even very large birds. That's slow!
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