Will-flyers, I challenge you. Read this entire post and tell me why it's wrong.

It's a given that the tires are mounted on freewheeling, unpowered wheels. Still, something has to happen for any wheeled craft or vehicle to move.

For our purposes, let's define "roll" as rotation over stationary ground, resulting in movement. "Movement" means covering a given distance. Agree? Good.

For an aircraft at rest on the ground with the landing gear down, how does any kind of propelling force - a tow tractor, people pushing, engine power, or a downhill slope as examples - become forward motion? How does the plane itself accelerate forward? Move from point A to point B? How does ANY FORCE applied to the plane result in forward movement?

One thing must happen for the plane to move. The tires must roll. It doesn't matter how that propelling force is applied but for that aircraft to move forward, the tires, mounted on their freewheeling, unpowered wheels, must roll. That's why we need brakes and wheel chocks, right?

What happens when the tires, mounted on their freewheeling, unpowered wheels, roll? The plane moves along the ground. This is, IMHO, one missing link for the WFers - the rolling tires only travel forward because the ground is stationary. That distance, as we know, is a certain amount per tire rotation depending on their size.

But when the belt is added, the ground under the plane is in effect moving in the opposite direction. Forward movement is no longer the result of applying any kind of propelling force because...why?

The tires are no longer rolling along the stationary ground, they're rotating in place. And since the freewheeling, unpowered wheels they're mounted upon are on an axle attached to the plane, if the tires are not moving forward, neither is the plane.

And guess what? That pesky friction? It's WFer missing link #2. You don't need enough to stop the plane, you only need enough to make the tires rotate. That's why the "perfect frictionless ice" scenario works, because the need for the tires to roll is effectively removed because there's not enough friction to make them rotate.

The plane would fly IF the belt was a constant speed less than the plane can attain or IF the belt did not speed up as power was applied to the aircraft's engines. In the scenario as presented, the aircraft's tires, mounted on their freewheeling, unpowered wheels, will merely rotate faster in place as thrust is applied but the plane will not move forward.

That's as simply as I can state my opinion. If it works for you, great. If not, that's great too.

Happy New Year!