Plane on a treadmill .. to be on Mythbusters

[Non Sequor]

drkohler said:

epsilon72 said:

drkohler, normal engines don't create airflow over a plane's wings by themselves. I don't think they're talking about building some strange new plane to do this.

Jetengines, no, but propellers actually do (which isn't the intention of a propeller) but they do as an added bonus. An actual experiment to check the myth will most likely fail anyways with any nornal plane geometry because the engine(s) cannot suck enough air to generate the power required.

 

 If that were true a propeller plane would start lifting off the ground as soon as its props spin up to full speed. The lift is generated by the apparent wind flowing around the wings and the propellors generate forward movement which results in an apparent wind.