Quote Originally Posted by ThaABomb
As an aerospace engineering student, here's my two cents:


As has been said before, no power is supplied to the wheels of an aircraft, it is propelled by either a propeller or a jet. The conveyor belt supplies a force backwards. If that is the only outside force involved, the plane will be stationary relative to the conveyor belt and will be moving backwards through the air. If the aircraft's propulsion supplies a force in the forward direction, the backward speed of the conveyor belt can be cancelled out with the forward speed of the aircraft. In this case, the conveyor belt will be moving past the airplane at takeoff speed but the speed of the air over the wings will be 0, which means the lift will be 0, so the plane will not take off.
*sigh*

Repeat the original question, “If a plane is traveling at takeoff speed on a conveyor belt, and the belt is matching that speed in the opposite direction, can the plane take off?”

Let’s break this sentence down, “If a plane is TRAVELING at takeoff speed...” /Freeze/ What do you suppose traveling at takeoff speed implies? As an aerospace engineering student, how is a planes speed determined? What specific equipment measures said speed of plane?
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Does it have anything to do with the ground or what’s beneath it? *Hint* It’s an airspeed indicator, a pitot tube on the exterior of the plane that measure ram air pressure. Case in point, an airplanes speed has nothing to do with its wheels, nothing at all. You can get all technical and start discussing indicated airspeed vs. calibrated airspeed vs. equivalent airspeed but you don’t have to think that far into it….If the plane was truly standing still and not progressing forward, as in traveling 0mph, then the conveyor would be going what speed? ….0mph.
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With that said, if the plane is moving forward at 100mph then the conveyor belt is moving backwards at 100mph. The only difference between a plane on a runway and a plane on a conveyor belt going the opposite direction is the speed in which the wheels rotate. The 100mph speed of plane + 100mph speed of conveyor belt = speed of wheels to be 200mph….the plane IS STILL TRAVELING FORWARD at 100mph. Whichs means there are 100mph winds moving above and below it's wings and lift will be created when the plane reaches whatever it's required take off speed is.