Originally Posted by brtecson

Kestrel is arguing a complelety parallel argument. I'm not talking about the conveyor moving the air around airplane. I'm talking about the conveyor not moving the airplane. My argument is that the conveyor is going to make the wheels on the airplane spin, and not make the entire airplane move at the velocity of the conveyor.

FWIW, I'm going for my dual masters in Physics and Mechanical Engineering.

Originally Posted by tegbooster

and anyone saying that the plane moves by thrust not wheel speed can't be right because in the initial post it said that the belt was moving the same speed in the opposite direction....try going up the down escalator at the same speed as it....u wont get anywhere...so if the plane magically hit light speed on that belt theoretically, the belt would be moving light speed backwards.....so there would still be no motion

Originally Posted by centerforce99

I think the only way this would work is if the thrusters enabled the plane to travel faster than the conveyor, thus allowing it to travel down and gain airspeed. They would really have to be kicking though, however that is not the issue here. The belt is going the same speed in opposite direction, so no lift is created.

Originally Posted by agent87

What I'm wondering is how it turned into a huge thread. Did people actually say yes?

Originally Posted by brtecson

here's a way of explaining it:

put a hot wheels toy car on top of a large piece of paper. snatch the pull the piece of paper horizontally from under the hot wheels (swiftly)... The distance traveled of the hot wheels car is less than the distance traveled of the paper. If you pull it fast enough, the car might not move at all. Why? Because the car isn't attached to the paper. The cars tendency to move with the paper is caused by the resistance coefficient in the wheels at whatever speed the paper is pulled.

So yes, the airplane would accelerate and lift off, but at a lesser rate due to the resistance in the wheel bearings of the airplane.

Originally Posted by centerforce99

It won't lift and this is why: The thruster may be on to get the plane going, but the conveyor is creating a disruption in the planes actually ability to gain momentum down the runway. It would be like drying to drive on a frozen lake w/just the rims. Yeah they are going to spin hella fast but you won't get anywhere. Second there is no substantial airflow created to make lift and 3rd: unless the wings are postioned for lift off, the plane is staying grounded.