Quote:
Originally posted by NY Madman:
The conveyor belt and the wheels would negate each other as forces. That is the scenario as it was proposed.
Agreed.

The wheels and conveyor belt would battle each other incessantly, ad nauseum.

Unfortunately, wheels on a plane play zero role in the actual forces of flight.

Even if the treadmill was able to spin the wheels backwards, against the direction of thrust, at a bazillion RPMs, the thrust propulsion is independant of the little battle the wheels are involved in.
The wheels are immaterial to the forces of flight (lift, gravity, thrust and drag).

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EDIT:
That's not quite correct.
Wheels, if they are stuck, or break off, or are otherwise damaged, could generate drag by dragging against the ground or causing damage to the airframe.

But as I understand the scenario, the conveyor belt is spinning the wheels freely, creating zero drag.

I am assuming a zero-drag scenario, as the conveyor belt is not damaging the wheels, merely spinning them in an attempt to negatively affect the aircraft's groundspeed.
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In essence, the plane does not give a fuck what the wheels are doing.

So yes, the tradmill and the wheels would cancel each other out. At 100 RPM, at 1,000 RPM, and at 1,000,000 RPM.

And the thrust from the propulsion would launch the plane quite handily.
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