Jan 2
Will It Take Off?
A plane is standing on a runway that can move (like a giant conveyor
belt). This conveyor has a control system that tracks the plane’s
speed and tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but
in the opposite direction).
Will the plane be able to take off?
Will it take off - part 2
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An aircraft’s ability to fly is based upon its airspeed, angle of attack and the camber of the wing, in addition to some other factors. Thrust of an airplane is designed to move the airplane relative to the airmass that it is moving in, not relative to the surface beneath it. No matter how fast the conveyor belt turns, it does not affect the airspeed of the airplane (other than potentially providing friction to slow it down). If there were no friction with the wheels, the airplane would simply fly off the end of the conveyor belt, or in the case of the above image, impact the front of the treadmill, probably causing separation of the wings and landing gear.
Thus, assuming a sufficiently long conveyor belt with no obstructions, it would be able to take off just as though the conveyor belt were not moving (i.e. was a flat runway), otherwise it would impact whatever was at the end of the conveyor belt.
Seconding Mark above, it’s all about lift. Now, if there was a fan in front of the airplane, blowing air across the wings at speed of let’s say 250mph, then you’d have something.
“This conveyor has a control system that tracks the plane’s
speed and tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but
in the opposite direction).”
No, it will not take off given the stated conditions.
This will be Busted, Plausible or Confirmed Jan 30th!
http://www.tv.com/mythbusters/airplane-on-conveyor-belt!/episode/1163441/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;2
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