What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
user
The velocity of an unladen swallow averages to be around 20.1 mph although some have measured to be as fast 46 mph. However, you are probably referring to the famous Monty Python sketch, where there is no definitive answer because there are too many external variables.
assistant
What if the swallow was carrying a coconut?
user
The context provides information about the airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow, but there is no information about the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow carrying a coconut. The question of whether a swallow can carry a coconut is a comedic reference from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the answer in the context suggests that it is highly unlikely for a swallow to carry a coconut, especially one that is more than double its weight. However, if we assume that the swallow found the world's smallest coconut ever recorded, weighing in at 0.14 ounces (3.847 grams), and a single European Swallow can carry about 1 ounce, then it might be possible for a swallow to carry such a small coconut. But this is an unlikely scenario, and it is not clear what the airspeed velocity of the swallow carrying the coconut would be. 

To estimate the airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow, the context provides several sources of information: 

- A 54-year survey of 26,285 European Swallows captured and released by the Avian Demography Unit of the University of Capetown finds that the average adult European swallow has a wing length of 12.2 cm and a body mass of 20.3 grams. By comparing the European Swallow with bird species of similar body mass, we can estimate that the swallow beats its wings 18 times a second with an amplitude of 18 cm, and by looking only at bird species with a similar wingspan, we can estimate an average frequency of 14 beats per second and an amplitude of 23 cm. By averaging all 6 values, we can estimate that an average European Swallow flies at cruising speed with a frequency of roughly 15 beats per second, and an amplitude of roughly 22 cm.
- Last month's article on The Strouhal Number in Cruising Flight showed how simplified flight waveforms that graph amplitude versus wavelength can be useful for visualizing the Strouhal ratio (fA/U), a dimensionless parameter that tends to fall in the range of 0.2-0.4 during efficient cruising flight. For a European Swallow flying with our estimated wingbeat amplitude of 22 cm, the predicted pattern of cruising flight ranges from a Strouhal number (St) of 0.2 to 0.4. 
- Airspeed can also be predicted using a published formula. By inverting the midpoint Strouhal ratio of 0.3 (fA/U ≈ 0.3), Graham K. Taylor et al. show that as a rule of thumb, the speed of a flying animal is roughly 3 times frequency times amplitude (U ≈ 3fA). Using this formula, we can estimate that the airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow is roughly 10 meters per second.

Based on the above information, we can estimate that the airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow is roughly 10 meters per second or 24 miles per hour. However, it is important to note that these are estimates based on averages and simplified flight waveforms, and the actual airspeed velocity of an individual swallow may vary depending on various factors such as wind speed, altitude, and temperature.
assistant