Can a Plane on a Treadmill Take Off?

"Greg Copeland" wrote

Sorry....the plane would not fly as you described. For if your
statement were true, we would not need wings...only a engine and a
prop. We must have air flow over the wings to generate lift. Propwash
does not generate enough lift, especially for planes wihch have a
centrally located engine/prop between the wings.

Nitpicking aside, I suspect that everyone agrees that in order for the plane
to take off it must move forward along the conveyor. Since the prop applies
a force to the plane which acts independent of what the conveyor and the
wheels are doing, the plane can definitely move forward, and therefore it
can take off.

Tie a rope to the plane and to your car which is parked in front of the
conveyor and not on the belt. Start the conveyor and run the belt at any
speed you wish. The plane sits still on the conveyor as the wheels spin
away. Now, if you drive your car forward the plane will move forward along
the conveyor at the speed that you are driving your car forward, regardless
of how fast the conveyor belt is moving. The conveyor cannot keep the plane
from moving forward, it can only spin the plane's wheels. The example says
that the belt moves backwards at the same speed that the plane moves
forward, but that doesn't mean that the plane must be standing still.

Get rid of the rope and the car and use the prop and the engine to pull you
forward along the conveyor (because it pulls you by exerting a force on the
air) and voila, you're flyin' the friendly skies.

BDS