Reply to "Airplane on a treadmill"

teyatesOld Faithful

It also must include the type of aircraft in the equation. For instance on a large airliner, there is absolutely no way the plane will leave the ground. Lift of the wings is created by airflow over them, and if the plane is not moving, there will be no airflow. All you are going to get is lot of noise. The most interesting thing about this equation would be if the conveyor belt stopped suddenly....LOL
Now take a smaller airplane such as Piper Cub, with a big engine (ie, SuperCub) and put it on this runway. The engine thrust alone, if there is not much weight in the plane will be enough for the plane to break the drag and gravity and slowly fly away. It would take a helluva skilled pilot to do it however.
Like Scro says, if this principle worked there would be no need for long runways, just build a conveyor belt and have at it.

7/1/108:09 AM

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