Can a Plane on a Treadmill Take Off?

"MaulePilot" wrote:

A plane on a conveyor belt takes off East Bound at 9:15am from Peoria,
Il, while a 747 on a conveyor belt takes off West Bound at the same
time from Hackensack NJ.
What time and at what point will they meet?

NEVER you morons. There is no air moving over the wings to produce any
'lift', much less any forward ground speed. I can't believe the
stupid crap that people talk about here.

There goes another one! g

Has anyone counted how many folks have fallen into this "trap"? I
wonder if those who call others "morons" as they fall in tend to have
bigger welts on their forehead when they finally get it and give
themselves a dope slap? g
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

It was a joke James. I'll bet The Monk got it.

Even if I didn't I'd pretend that I did. LOL

The Monk

Damn straight you would!

Damn straight you would! LOL

The Monk

Thomas Borchert wrote:

Alexy,

The conveyor is programmed to move in such a way as to maintain the
aircraft at an airspeed of zero as measured at the pitot.

Absolutely, if you CHANGED the problem, and restated it as above, then
it wouldn't fly.


Actually, you couldn't do that - which is another point the question
makes.

True, from a practical standpoint. As far as the thought experiment
goes, you could if the conveyer moved fast enough that the rolling
friction of the tires plus the bearing friction of the wheels exactly
offset the thrust of the plane's propulsion system. My initial
calculations indicate that the speed needed for that to happen is
somewhat below the speed of light, but significantly beyond the speed
at which the wheels and tires would disintegrate. g
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

Depends on how long the treadmill is....
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

I would be at a loss to explain the difference between the
minds of both groups.

Well, the difference is simply that someone looks at the tree, someone
else looks at the forest and sees the problem in its integrity.

Everyone that answers "Won't take off" don't think that the runway is
NOT a relevant element to make an airplane take off. The airplane works
in the air whether or not the wheels are on the ground.

Piero

No one has thought of the other limitation: the airplane could fall off
the edge of the world.

Alexy,

Has anyone counted how many folks have fallen into this "trap"?


What irks me most is how violent people attack those of a different
opinion over this rather trivial matter - all the while being wrong...

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Darthpup,

Actually conveyor belt would decrease the length of runways if operated
in the direction of take off???


The point the question makes is that the speed of the belt is completely
independent of the airspeed of the plane, so you just CAN'T make the belt
keep the airspeed at zero.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Alexy,

My initial
calculations indicate that the speed needed for that to happen is
somewhat below the speed of light, but significantly beyond the speed
at which the wheels and tires would disintegrate. g


Concur. g

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

wrote)
[snip]
The airplane works in the air whether or not the wheels are on the ground.


BUT...the AIRplane isn't in the AIR yet!

Gravity, wheels, belt, zero airspeed. Once the wings get some lift under
them, sure...

But just like a plane sitting on the tarmac, our plane is still heavy enough
to rest on those happy little spinning wheels.

It's not a frigg'n blimp!


Montblack 83.7
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