On 4 Feb 2006 20:45:34 -0800, "Flyingmonk" wrote:

The plane is NOT powered at the wheels! In this case the plane will be
going 60kts forward relative to the surrounding air and 120kts forward
relative to the treadmill. Think about it.

I reckon that's true, given the question posed in "The Straight Dope,"
(I've been too lazy to read it myself, but I gather from the other
responses that what you say above is what Adams had in mind.) but what
is the point of the original question in that case? Is it just to
trap a sloppy reader into thinking it's all about a crackpot VTOL
methodology?

The more interesting question is whether you could land real short by
using the treadmill.

Don