Can A Plane Take Off On A Treadmill?
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Originally Posted by meth,Feb 15 2008, 02:03 PM
i got what he was saying after he said he meant wheel speed not ground speed, and he was a little unclear about it. but this thread has been so strung out, all we wanted to know is if the plane would take off. YES. why cant the thread end with that.
we don't need someone coming in here rolling their eyes at us telling us he is an engineer from some aeronautical spot that a plane that has 0 groundspeed is not going to take off because that is obvious and completely argumentative at this point in the thread. why even mention that? to prove what, that a plane will not take off with a groundspeed of 0, no kidding, but how likely is that?
this is how i interpret it. he basically says... "you guys suck at physics. sure a plane can take off on a treadmil but you fail to realize that if it is on a treadmill and the plane boosts itself to just overcome the friction of the wheels and has 0 groundspeed its not going to take off." no kidding, but was that necessary to really say at this point?
we don't need someone coming in here rolling their eyes at us telling us he is an engineer from some aeronautical spot that a plane that has 0 groundspeed is not going to take off because that is obvious and completely argumentative at this point in the thread. why even mention that? to prove what, that a plane will not take off with a groundspeed of 0, no kidding, but how likely is that?
this is how i interpret it. he basically says... "you guys suck at physics. sure a plane can take off on a treadmil but you fail to realize that if it is on a treadmill and the plane boosts itself to just overcome the friction of the wheels and has 0 groundspeed its not going to take off." no kidding, but was that necessary to really say at this point?
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Originally Posted by Lsos,Feb 15 2008, 01:38 PM
There is nothing wrong with what has been said in this post. Everything that is written here is true. Perhaps its not as relevant to the discussion as it should be, but that's no reason to jump on his throat and dismiss this guy as a lunatic that doesn't know what he's talking about.
He never said the plane won't take off. He simply said that if the airplane's wheels matched the treadmill's speed, it wouldn't move. This is true. But he clearly stated that we're not interested in the wheelspeed, just the groundspeed. Unfortunately for some reason he then proceeded to devote two paragraphs to discussing these wheels that we don't care about...and people in this thread, which now has the appearance of a witch hunt, wrongly interpreted this as him saying "the plane won't take off".
He never said the plane won't take off. He simply said that if the airplane's wheels matched the treadmill's speed, it wouldn't move. This is true. But he clearly stated that we're not interested in the wheelspeed, just the groundspeed. Unfortunately for some reason he then proceeded to devote two paragraphs to discussing these wheels that we don't care about...and people in this thread, which now has the appearance of a witch hunt, wrongly interpreted this as him saying "the plane won't take off".
It's not about whether it can or can't, it's about who understands why it can or can't.
I saw quite a few people posting that there doesn't need to be forward movement of the airplane for it to take off, so I felt it was not out of place to attempt (poorly, I apologize) to explain that there has to be forward movement.
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Originally Posted by Neutered Sputniks,Feb 16 2008, 04:53 AM
As my last sentence said...
It's not about whether it can or can't, it's about who understands why it can or can't.
I saw quite a few people posting that there doesn't need to be forward movement of the airplane for it to take off, so I felt it was not out of place to attempt (poorly, I apologize) to explain that there has to be forward movement.
It's not about whether it can or can't, it's about who understands why it can or can't.
I saw quite a few people posting that there doesn't need to be forward movement of the airplane for it to take off, so I felt it was not out of place to attempt (poorly, I apologize) to explain that there has to be forward movement.
I get what you're saying though. I guess that by the time one person thinks something, types it out, it's translated by the internets, and people interpret it, we all get a little mixed up about what's being said...and every time we get close to an agreement, someone introduces another variable (wind tunnel; wtf?)Happy Saturday everyone.
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