Thread: Airplane on a treadmill

Has anyone watched the mythbusters experiment and subsequent explanation of why it will take off??

Cheers Rod

Sent from my GT-I9507 using AULRO mobile app

Originally Posted by 67hardtop

Has anyone watched the mythbusters experiment and subsequent explanation of why it will take off??

Cheers Rod

Sent from my GT-I9507 using AULRO mobile app

Yes. I watched it.

I also read some of the responses on a couple of forums from people who think that Mythbusters got it wrong. They are all making the same mistake as the airframe fitters and pilots on this forum.

They all fail to realise that the treadmill can't stop the plane moving forward.

Im gunna go get some popcorn, this threads as much fun to watch as some of the ones about getting a 2:1 off of a single snatch block.

The planes going to fly, anyone on here who is a licensed pilot, or knows a licensed pilot that says otherwise in order of my preference

1. hand in your ticket.
2. at least let me know when and where you'll be in the air so I can go be somewhere safer
3. identify yourself to me before I get into a plane you'll be flying so I can get right back out again.

I can't imagine a plane which doesn't have enough thrust to counter the rolling resistance of it's wheels, so I'm in the she will fly camp.

Unless it is a really small treadmill..
Then the plane will crash into the controls and stop...

Or it will go slow and fall of the back - activating the emergency stop lanyard...

At which time the crash site may be covered in Flies...

Originally Posted by Tombie

Unless it is a really small treadmill..
Then the plane will crash into the controls and stop...

Or it will go slow and fall of the back - activating the emergency stop lanyard...

At which time the crash site may be covered in Flies...

That happens to me every time I get on one.

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

... the pilot is unequivocally correct...again

No he's NOT. And the quote has the answer...

Think of it like this:

Skateboard on a treadmill..
Support skateboard (hold in place)
Turn on treadmill...
Skateboard stays in place but the wheels rotate being driven by the treadmill. Let's say at 10km/h

Can the skateboard move forwards? Of course it can - just push it forwards using your hand that was holding it in place. Just like a Jet/Prop can push/pull the aeroplane forwards (increasing its SPEED through the AIR).

The side effect, the wheels underneath the skateboard are now rotating at the speed of the treadmill + the speed of the board moving forwards..

So the aeroplane can gain speed regardless - which, assuming a long enough conveyor - will allow the aeroplane to gain sufficient AIRSPEED across the wings to induce lift and eventually flight.

So IF the Aeroplane requires 100knots to lift off, and the head wind is 25knots, and IF the aeroplane accelerates to 75 knots SOG it will take flight.... (because AIRSPEED is now 100 knots)

And all this time - assuming the conveyor operator is running his belt at 75 knots the opposite direction (matching the aeroplanes speed on ground) the wheels on the aeroplane will be rotating the opposite direction to the aeroplanes direction of travel at a rotational equivalent of 150knots when it lifts off....

Not rocket science......

Good analogy Tombie, I was thinking skate board with a sail on it like a windsurfer.
At uni they always try to teach critical thinking and it takes a while for them to pick it up. This thread should be part of the critical thinking syllabus = don't believe what people state as fact even if they are experts in the field.