The mouth of Sauron has spoken

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I don’t know, the fell beasts with their sharp spines sticking out along their backs, unnecessary long tail dangling behind them, and legs and feet that doesn’t tuck next to their bodies while in the air, looks far more optimized for wicked and fearsome appearance than for low drag, high lift and other necessities of efficient flight.

So if we think the fell beasts and eagles are not creatures of magic, and instead obey normal biomechanics and aerodynamic rules, then it looks to me like the eagles should be far better fliers and should be able to outfly them as easily as a WWII P-51 can outfly a WWI Gotha bomber.

Of course if creatures that size obeyed normal biomechanical and aerodynamic rules, then neither the eagle nor the fell beasts would be able to fly at all.  But who is counting.

And if my mum had wheels, she would have been a bike.

Boru