Airplane on a Conveyor Belt...

[Vraciu]

The plane will fly.   The amount of resistance generated by the wheels is so small that only God could hope to move a conveyor belt fast enough to neutralize the propulsive force of an airplane--any airplane.

The wheels will be spinning like mad but they won't impart enough resistance to stop the thing from moving forward.

[100Coogn]

This a/c could stay on the belt till hell freezes over and it isn't going to fly! The only thing that will make it fly is air flow over the wings and with it standing still, no way that is going to happened!

That's kinda' what I'm thinking too.   

Coogan

[Vraciu]

What if it's on the step, though?

  

[Shuffler]

 

It will lose weight till it floats

[FLS]

This a/c could stay on the belt till hell freezes over and it isn't going to fly! The only thing that will make it fly is air flow over the wings and with it standing still, no way that is going to happened!

It's not standing still. The conveyor just spins the wheels, it doesn't hold the aircraft in place.

[AKIron]

This was a fun thread and old like me. Myth Busters didn't do the premise justice though. Obvious to all, a plane must get enough air flowing over the wings to generate lift to "take off". If a conveyor belt could hold a plane stationary relative to the wind how would the wing generate lift?

[AKIron]

A conveyor belt that moves fast enough will apply enough force to a plane through its wheels to hold it stationary relative to the wind. Eskimo demonstrated that effect with his belt sander. The argument is how to interpret how fast the conveyor belt should move.

[deSelys]

In the real world, the plane will take off, the propeller acts on the air and the resistance of the wheels spinning freely on the conveyor belt is insignificant.

If the conveyor belt has the theoretical ability to move so (insanely) fast that the resistance of the spinning wheels is high enough to prevent the plane from moving, the belt will also act on the air and generate such a headwind that the plane should be able to take off with ground speed = 0, so the question is moot 

[NatCigg]

   yes yes, the drag on the air surrounding the belt would cause the air to move with the conveyor belt, and against the planes forward direction.  while there is not much wing over the conveyor the increased air flow would be present (nevermind the prop stream  ).  Unfortunately, since air movement decreases as distance from the energy source increases, the faster air flow under the wing versus the more distant top part of the wing, will actually cause DOWNFORCE! further increasing the weight of the plane and therefore stationary force on the conveyor. 

[Vraciu]

A conveyor belt that moves fast enough will apply enough force to a plane through its wheels to hold it stationary relative to the wind. Eskimo demonstrated that effect with his belt sander. The argument is how to interpret how fast the conveyor belt should move.

It would have to be a conveyor belt capable of light speed (or at least Warp One).

The airplane's wing cares about air.

[Kuhn]

then the gear rip off   

[AKIron]

One debate we had, maybe in the other thread, was whether the belt was required to match the rotational speed of the spinning wheels or the fuselage. If the latter then the planes takes off easily. If the former then the belt will rapidly accelerate as the wheels attempt to roll. This applies force to plane as Eskimo demonstrated and is quite capable of holding the plane in place given the belt is capable of unlimited acceleration and speed.

[100Coogn]

If the planes take-off speed is 100 mph and the belt is moving at 100 mph opposite direction, the plane should not get airborne. 

Coogan

[Vraciu]

One debate we had, maybe in the other thread, was whether the belt was required to match the rotational speed of the spinning wheels or the fuselage. If the latter then the planes takes off easily. If the former then the belt will rapidly accelerate as the wheels attempt to roll. This applies force to plane as Eskimo demonstrated and is quite capable of holding the plane in place given the belt is capable of unlimited acceleration and speed.

How was this "demonstrated"?

[FLOOB]

If the planes take-off speed is 100 mph and the belt is moving at 100 mph opposite direction, the plane should not get airborne. 

Coogan

Are you joking?