Plane on a treadmill .. to be on Mythbusters

[drkohler]

goddog said:
Id say in theory you could take off depending on the placement and type of engines used, a turbojet with an engine set over the leading of the wings, so the wash actually helps create lift could do it, there is a russian aircraft that was designed this way for short takeoffs and landing ... thing looks strange as Hll though. really its all about creating lift so it depends on how the aircraft does it volt aircraft, no problem, gyroplanes/rota planes, rocket powerd vehicals...(the tredmill could not keep up). really the bigest problem i see here is keeping a giant tread mills bearing cool durring this test

Amen to that - at least somebody else got it right. In order to get rid of this 'wheels' discussion, let's mount a sled under the plane instead of wheels so there is no rotation anymore of anything (except your brain, maybe). Everything in the myth problem remains the same. (Now the engines have to be much stronger so that the plane can sort of scratch on the conveyor belt, overcoming initial adhesion and gliding friction. As long as the engine(s) can create high airflow on the wings, that plane is taking off at some belt speed as I have tried to explain before. (That thing with the truck was crap, I figured that one out after sending off the message).