I wouldn't bet my life on it... or your life.

You are wrong. In the scenario the conveyor speeds up and matches the thrust of the plane. As the pilot throttles down - which would normally cause the plane to move down the runway - the conveyor speeds up to match it. Thus there is no forward movement of the plane in the hypothetical scenario. The fuselage and the wings are not moving forward through fluid air. The forces of the air moving over the wings are not present in the hypothetical scenario.

If you were looking down from above (or anywhere for that matter) during this hypothetical scenario, the plane would appear to be not moving at all even though the the throttle is down and thrusters are going full blast. To an outside observer the plane would appear stationary.

Quote:

Madman again- the cats on a carrier are fairly irrelevant to the other discussion, but essentially they are a thrust enhancer. Perhaps the Navy could come up with a way to make jets take off of ships using thrust only, but the steam cats are fairly economical and very effective.

If the Navy could have done it, they probably already would have done so considering the amount of men that have died over the years by catapult accidents.

In order for a plane to achieve flight.. a flight where the pilots will not crash... the plane has to be moving in a forward direction to obtain the initial lift required to sustain the angle of attack to keep it climbing into the sky.

In the hypothetical scenario in this thread, there is no sound aerodynamics operating in which the nose can lift to obtain the proper angle.

A Harrier jet can lift itself vertically with it's technology, but if the pilot is not well experienced enough to know how to manuever the plane and the thrusters while in the air to obtain a proper angle, that plane will crash... even though it is already in the air. It will not obtain flight. Not viable flight where the occupants have a reasonable chance of living to see the next day.

Without forward motion, the lift it provides and the proper angle of attack... I would think the aircraft would stall and crash.

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"That's my story and I'm sticking to it...."