you're all getting it wrong! you're all saying "if the plane has no airspeed it won't fly" which is of course true, but you're missing the point that they're trying to slow down a plane with a treadmill. It simply won't work! The plane is pushing against the air. If it were a car it would be stationary. Imagine this scenario then:
You have a car driving at 100 MPH. It's a front wheel drive. The two back wheels are on a treadmill (ok, you'll have to imagine a mobile treadmill here so that the back wheels are on it and the front wheels aren't) and this treadmill is going backwards at 100 MPH. Will the car stay stationary? Of course not! The front wheels are providing the force, the back wheels are simply there for the ride. It doesn't matter how fast those back wheels are spinning, the front wheels will keep the car moving at 100 MPH.
This is the exact same scenario. The plane will move forward because no treadmill in the world can stop a plane from moving.
Help! I'm stuck in a forum signature!
