KruzeS on 23 October 2007
| kn said: You guys seem to all be assuming zero friction between tire and wheel. There is friction. If you were able to somehow feather the throttle up slowly while increasing the treadmill speed, the friction of the wheels of the plane on the treadmill will exert a rearward force which could easily be countered by an increase in throttle. |
Yes, there is friction. But the rolling friction from the wheels is negligible - at take off speads, the air friction alone is already a much bigger factor.
A plane that can propell itself forward from a stationary position (beating inertia, rolling, driveline and air frictions), and accelerate itself to take off speeds just by moving air, cannot and will not be stopped by a threadmill.
Reality has a Nintendo bias.
