Mythbusters, Plane on a treadmill..

[COOPERVANE]

Soon someone will come on this board and say that the mythbusters test wasn't fair, wasn't accurate, or didn't depict the myth correctly in some minor fashion.

They will realize they were wrong, but fall back on some minute detail to defend their lack of comprehension.

They will insist that they were right to think it wouldn't fly according to the myth as originaly stated.

Watch

 

[Illini Pilot]

Not sure its a good thing or a bad thing to admit I orginally posted the question here back like two years ago :lol

Now I want to know if someone from here sent in the question to mythbusters to get it tested.

 

[7574EVER]

Just think....this thread was probably read by Adam himself while he was reading over "thousands of internet posts about this subject."

 

[Andy Neill]

Soon someone will come on this board and say that the mythbusters test wasn't fair, wasn't accurate, or didn't depict the myth correctly in some minor fashion.

They will realize they were wrong, but fall back on some minute detail to defend their lack of comprehension.

They will insist that they were right to think it wouldn't fly according to the myth as originaly stated.

Watch

I guess that would be me then. The demonstration portrayed on the show did not meet the elements of the test in a very necessary way. Namely, the conveyor belt (tarp) was not moving as fast as the plane's wheels were moving. As evidence, you can see the traffic cones marking the takeoff distance. If the tarp was being pulled the same speed as the wheels, the plane would not have passed a single cone. Instead, it passed the last one at lift off.

The error in the test design was moving the tarp at takeoff speed and not the plane's wheel speed which was faster.

I have not yet realized an error in my original thinking and do, in fact, insist that a plane tested under the right conditions will not take off.

 

[PCL_128]

You've gotta be kidding me. Please tell me that was a joke.

 

[7574EVER]

I guess that would be me then. The demonstration portrayed on the show did not meet the elements of the test in a very necessary way. Namely, the conveyor belt (tarp) was not moving as fast as the plane's wheels were moving. As evidence, you can see the traffic cones marking the takeoff distance. If the tarp was being pulled the same speed as the wheels, the plane would not have passed a single cone. Instead, it passed the last one at lift off.

The error in the test design was moving the tarp at takeoff speed and not the plane's wheel speed which was faster.

I have not yet realized an error in my original thinking and do, in fact, insist that a plane tested under the right conditions will not take off.

So what if you thought of it in terms of a glider with a tow plane. The tow plane does a low pass (wheels not touching the ground); but, the glider sits on the treadmill. The treadmill is going the opposide direction of the tow plane and the gliders intended takeoff direction. The tow plane is the forward propulsion for the glider (the equivalent of a powered aircraft's engine).

By your theory the tow plane would just stop and fall out of the sky when attempting to pull the glider along the moving treadmill because the glider is unable to move forward because of the opposing movement of the treadmill.

The only limit I could see would be how fast the wheels can spin before ripping themselves apart. It MAY, I reapeat MAY, take a bit more thrust to get the aircraft moving initially; but, ultimately the aircrafts thust will overcome the opposed movement. The wheels would just be spinning twice as fast.

PS. Not sure I would want to get into a plane with the pilot that Adam and Jamie used. He didn't quite seem all there.

 

[Say Again Over]

The error in the test design was moving the tarp at takeoff speed and not the plane's wheel speed which was faster.

I have not yet realized an error in my original thinking and do, in fact, insist that a plane tested under the right conditions will not take off.

Yes and so it starts. :crying:

The fact that the aircraft overcame the normal take off speed should indicate to you that the speed of the conveyor makes absolutely no difference what so ever, uh.

 

[Max Q]

Found this gem on another forum...

Mythbusters POCB Sequel

-Brett

 

[rumpletumbler]

Thank God the truck didn't go faster than 25 mph.

If Jamie hadn't been so vigilant on his speed he might have exceeded the takeoff speed of the aircraft. The aircraft would have then started going backwards creating a tsunami vortex. When the aircraft rolled off the back of the tarp the resultant forces could very well have created a black hole and none of us would be here to post today.

It was no mistake that Jamie was driving. Adam would have killed us all.

 

[go!ng for broke]

Thank God the truck didn't go faster than 25 mph.

If Jamie hadn't been so vigilant on his speed he might have exceeded the takeoff speed of the aircraft. The aircraft would have then started going backwards creating a tsunami vortex. When the aircraft rolled off the back of the tarp the resultant forces could very well have created a black hole and none of us would be here to post today.

It was no mistake that Jamie was driving. Adam would have killed us all.

Dead or alive we still could have lived normally. RIGHT??