Plane on a treadmill poll...

[Xan]

really? put your car on a dyno(I know planes aren't powered by their wheels. thanks for the info). for the sake of argument, lets say the speedometer says 100mph. is the car actually going 100mph? NO. it's sitting there with the wheels spinning. now, stick your hand out the window. is there wind shooting over it like if you were on the highway? NO. so what makes you think there will be wind going over the wings of a plane?

The propeller is what's making the wheels on an airplane spin. It does this because it's forcing air backwards. Not that hard to grasp.

Edit: Better yet. Put a prop plane on a dyno. Set the windspeed to 100 MPH. Stick your head out the window. Is there wind coming back at you?