Originally Posted by Kestrel

Wheels really have nothing to do with whether the plane flies or not. All they do is hold the plane off the ground, and have lower rolling resistance than say, a pile of bricks holding the plane off the ground.

We can look at this in terms of forces. I think all of us agree that if the plane can accelerate forward (ie net forward force) then the plane can eventually get off the ground. For a jet or propeller aircraft, the largest forward force is thrust from the engines, and that is there regardless of whether the ground moves or not. For drag forces there is drag from air as the plane increases speed. There is also a tractive force from the ground to the wheels.

Now, the tractive force from the ground to the wheels is the amount that is necessary to make the wheels spin. In the normal world, the wheel spins at a speed that is the same as the forward speed of the plane. In this fucked up conveyor belt world, the speed is faster than that of the plane's forward velocity since the conveyor belt moves backwards. But since the amount of force to spin the wheel twice as fast is not significantly higher, the plane is only slightly more slowed. Hence, there is a net forward force, and the plane will accelerate and take off.