Quote Originally Posted by fcman
The plane wouldn't be stationary on the treadmill though. No matter how fast that treadmill moves, the plane will move forward in relation to an observer not on the treadmill, thus creating airspeed. Because a plane's wheels are free-rolling, the speed of the wheels/treadmill are irrelevant to the question. If you get past that the only thing this question is truly asking is "Can an airplane take off?"

So you're saying that if the treadmill is moving at , lets say, 1000mph, the jet can still take off?????

It cant, there will be too much friction created by the wheels... the jets would be able to make enough thrust to over come airspeed.

If this was the theory, then where are there not huge treadmills on aircraft carriers?? Oh, it wont work.

Look at a Harrier Jet for examples of thrust vs airspeed and lift. It creates upward thrust from nozzles forcing thrust down. To go forward, it slowly turns the nozzles back to make forward thrust. It it went too fast, it would not make enough forward thrust to create lift (airspeed) and fall down. It balances upward thrust and forward thrust until enough lift is created.

So lets review again. Thrust overcomes friction caused by gravity(weight) to create airspeed over the wings to finally make lift.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_%28force%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust