Mythbusters tackles the plane/treadmill

Will the plane takeoff?

  • Yes: The plane will takeoff.

    Votes: 72 56.7%

  • No: The plane will not takeoff.

    Votes: 55 43.3%
  • Total voters
    127
P

Pitbozz

GR8WHYT
Joined
Nov 25, 2002
Mythbusters will finally put to rest the airplane on a treadmill question that has haunted the internet for years and years. The question:

Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the plane, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?

Re-hashing it because the show airs in 8 days.

Place your bets.
 
AHHHHHH....

I accidently voted NO... I ment to click YES. Add 1 more for my clicking without looking (that can be dangerous on the web:tongue: )

It will take off...
 
Hmmm. A plane that does not require lift? I think not. Hold a paper airlplane just about eyelevel and let go. Same theory.
 
There was a post on the ls2gto board that was 15 pages and had perfect examples as to why it would fly. Several engineers and pilots on there too, and still many people thought it wouldn't fly.
 
BLACK6PACK said:
There was a post on the ls2gto board that was 15 pages and had perfect examples as to why it would fly. Several engineers and pilots on there too, and still many people thought it wouldn't fly.
Click to expand...


Scary how many aviation people get it wrong.
 
BLACK6PACK said:
There was a post on the ls2gto board that was 15 pages and had perfect examples as to why it would fly. Several engineers and pilots on there too, and still many people thought it wouldn't fly.
Click to expand...

Amazing how many people can't figure out the solution to this - our school system and government at work!

For those of you that are followers and don't want to vote for fear of being wrong - YES - it will fly.....
 
There was a mile long thread about this a while back. A plane uses thrust from the prop/jet engines to move forward, not the wheels. It had me going for a while too.
 
Big difference between air speed and wheel speed... Planes are powered by thrust, not the wheels...
 
So if the plane is at a stand still and the treadmill is going 125 or so....the thrust is holding it there. If they come up on boost the fuselage will accelerate as if it were at a stand still (if there's enough throttle left).

The wheels will be going 250 mph while the plane will be going 125 to lift off....do I got it yet?
 
Mythbusters....the same guys who busted the driveshaft dropping myth. Somebody better tell NHRA that nothing happens when a car drops the front part of the driveshaft.:rolleyes:
 
Somebody please explain to me how a wing can provide lift without air moving over them.

C'mon....enlighten me! I'm Polish!!
 
I got it....and I hope they don't do it this way because it will cheapen the whole thing.

If there was some type of framework holding the plane still as the treadmill got moving and held it in place, the engines would surely accelerate the craft and it would take off.

hope the tires don't come apart at twice the required take off speed. Either way the dynamite will take care of that. The plane will be airborne in any case.
 
Everybody seems to compare it to a car on a treadmill... it's not the same...

Planes take off with ski's, on water, hell.... VTOL is available so they don't even need to move at all.

Basically... the wheels are there only to make it easier to roll on the ground to achieve the "AIR" speed necessary to fly.

Since the wheels are not propelled, the conveyor will have absolutley NO effect on the planes body.

The ONLY way it could stop the plane is if the conveyor speeds up, melts the wheel bearings and locking up the tires. But if the engines have enough thrust, it'll still take off smoking the tires all the way down the runway.

Ofcourse... if the treadmill were programmed to match the speed of the wheels.... it would instantly accellerate to infinity, creating a massive gravitational field, collapsing in on itself and creating a singularity that'll eat the entire planet.:biggrin:

Givin Mythbusters love to destroy stuff, they couldn't hope for a better way to end a show.
 
notacarlo said:
So if the plane is at a stand still and the treadmill is going 125 or so....the thrust is holding it there. If they come up on boost the fuselage will accelerate as if it were at a stand still (if there's enough throttle left).

The wheels will be going 250 mph while the plane will be going 125 to lift off....do I got it yet?
Click to expand...

Close. Treadmill also comes to mind.

"Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the plane, moving in the opposite direction."

A plane generates lift by moving air over its wing surface- forward motion is made by the powerplant generating thrust enough to overcome drag.

Your car strapped to a dyno (or you on a treadmill) generates no forward motion- the potential forward motion is counteracted by the action of the rollers (or tread). Since the conveyor belt is "exactly matching the speed of the aircraft" there is no forward motion; hence, no lift is generated.
 
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