Can the plane take off?

[Great Lakes]

 

[copb8tx]

Winter has been rough for y'all hasn't it.

 

[Creekwood]

Not from Russia it can't. (No)

 

[ttmott]

Yes it can - the airplane will have to overcome the speed of the conveyor with enough airspeed to create lift on the wings. But, the tires will probably fail before that.

 

[techmitch]

Yes it can - the airplane will have to overcome the speed of the conveyor with enough airspeed to create lift on the wings. But, the tires will probably fail before that.

If the conveyor is stationary, where would airspeed come from?

 

[Great Lakes]

If the conveyor is stationary, where would airspeed come from?

My simple mind tells me this too. The argument is that the thrust is not connected to the wheels so it takes off.

This is a deep dive into physics. Way deeper than my mind can handle lol

 

[tc410]

Yes it can - the airplane will have to overcome the speed of the conveyor with enough airspeed to create lift on the wings. But, the tires will probably fail before that.

The airplane can’t overcome the speed of the conveyor since the theory addresses that the conveyor is designed to exactly match the speed of the tires.

 

[Blueone]

I think I am on to something…..will this fly ?

 

[Great Lakes]

The wheels would have to spin faster than the conveyor in order to create lift, this can’t happen if the conveyor matches the wheel speed.

 

[JimG]

Negative. "They belt conveyor is designed to match the speed of the wheels". Therefore it ain't going anywhere... no lift.

 

[Stee6043]

If the conveyor is stationary, where would airspeed come from?

From...moving air?

The engines provide forward motion via thrust, the tires are simply there to keep the airplane off the tarmac...and help slow her down when she lands.

If that 747 had friction-less wheel bearings and brakes, the conveyor could be doing 200mph backwards and the plane wouldn't move. The tires don't even need to be particularly special. 200mph air speed matched by the wheels going the same speed in the opposite direction. No problem, take off at 200mph and see ya later.

 

[Stee6043]

You guys think lift is created by the tires spinning? Oiy

The only thing that a "real plane" in this scenario would need to overcome is the friction/drag in the wheels and brakes. That's the only backward force coming from that conveyor that acts upon the plane. Nothing about that conveyor impacts how jet engines create thrust nor how airplane wings create lift...

 

[techmitch]

The wheels would have to spin faster than the conveyor in order to create lift, this can’t happen if the conveyor matches the wheel speed.

Exactly! It won't be able to "take off" but it sure would fly... off the end of they conveyor if you stopped it fast enough.

 

[ttmott]

If the conveyor is stationary, where would airspeed come from?

The airplane has it's own power right? Consequently, it can take off.

 

[ErikE]

Give it to Elon Musk...he'll strap a rocket or two to it and get that thing off the ground

 

[ttmott]

Negative. "They belt conveyor is designed to match the speed of the wheels". Therefore it ain't going anywhere... no lift.

Ah but you miss the point that the engines are moving the airplane forward down the conveyor (runway) which creates air flow over the wings and consequently lift. The conveyor is simply "matching the speed of the wheels in the opposite direction". The conveyor, quite possibly, isn't moving at all.

 

[Great Lakes]

If the engines were off and you turned on the conveyor, what would happen? The plane would move backwards. Now if you turned on the engines to counteract the conveyor moving backwards then the plane would be stationary, correct? Now say you sped up the conveyor so now the plane starts to move backwards again. You would have to give the plane more thrust to counteract the conveyor, correct? At what point does the plane create airflow to take off from the ground?

 

[The Bill Collector]

I'm just a bill collector, I didn't even know how exactly my heat exchangers worked until 2 weeks ago (lol) but the engines are not rocket boosters so they are not able to do a deadlift so I'm with the crowd, no airspeed = no lift.

 

[mrsrobinson]

I need more information:

Is it a gas or diesel engine airplane?

What kind of compound and wax was used on the fuselage?

Is the conveyor powered by alternative energy?

Is the pilot a man, woman, other, undecided, does not wish to answer?

 

[Stee6043]

If the engines were off and you turned on the conveyor, what would happen? The plane would move backwards. Now if you turned on the engines to counteract the conveyor moving backwards then the plane would be stationary, correct? Now say you sped up the conveyor so now the plane starts to move backwards again. You would have to give the plane more thrust to counteract the conveyor, correct? At what point does the plane create airflow to take off from the ground?

It goes backwards because of the friction/drag on the wheel bearings and brakes. Without that friction/drag, there would be no movement of the plane regardless of the speed or direction of the conveyor.

The jet engines only need to overcome the friction in the wheel bearings and brakes to become airborne. Not a particularly difficult thing to do I'd expect.

Imagine you're wearing roller skates and standing on a conveyor belt with hand rails along the sides. The conveyor starts moving backwards, your skate wheels start spinning but you're not moving because you're holding onto the handrails. Do you think you could still move yourself forward on a conveyor going 100mph backwards without "extreme force"? Yes, of course, it would be no problem. You're only fighting the friction in the wheel bearings on your skates....and that's not a lot of force to overcome.