Quote:
Originally posted by XPLORx4:
An aircraft's ability to leave a conveyor-belt runway is influenced PREDOMINANTLY by the speed rating of its tires.

I briefly searched google, and found that a common speed rating of many aircraft tires is 160mph . There are some tires with speed ratings as high as 225mph.

Most people in this discussion believe that the aircraft will take off on a conveyor belt. A few still hold onto the fact that the plane never moves relative to its surroundings, which has been disproved many times.

The plane DOES move towards the end of the runway, which moves backwards at the same rate, making only the tires spin faster (but the plane still moves forwards). Wheel bearing friction is negligible, provided proper bearing maintenance. However, if the tire speed exceeds 160mph, which means the plane's airspeed can only be 80mph, the tire is at risk of failure while it's on the conveyor belt. Most planes require airspeeds over 100mph to acquire lift. On the scenario's conveyor belt, the tires would have to spin at an effective speed at over 200mph, more than 25% faster than the speed rating of the tire.

As long as the tire can hold together before the plane takes off, the plane will fly away. But if the tire fails before then, the plane is probably going to lose control near the end of the runway and probably crash.
Wow. You're reading way too much into the problem...

If it makes you feel any better, nobody ever said the airplane had tires to begin with. The original problem statement never said either way. For all we know, the plane is sitting on skids, and the conveyor belt is covered in butter to reduce friction...

But...
Goodyear Airplane tires

According to Good Year, they have tires rated up to 230 MPH.

So if it's a small plane w/ takeoff of 60 knots (indicated air speed) such as the Cessna 172R, then not only does it take off, but the wheels don't even come close to their max speed...