An airplane on a treadmill: will it take off?

[Menelaus]

But they could inread of building a new runway at heathrow build a couple of large treadmills and the other old style runways could be used for landings only.

Tony in 'I've saved Sipson' mode

At RAF Gutersloh in Germany in the early 1970s they built a prism device at the end of the device because too many Lightnings were going into the hedge at the end of the runway; the effect was to force the aircraft into vertical pointing straight at the sky rockety type device.

Ah, the lightning. The only aircraft the RAF have ever had that would do Mach2 in a vertical climb

[Churchill]

Having actually piloted a plane I do have a clue (I can also re-arrange words gifted huh!)

Evidently as I am posting on here it was a succesful piloting mission also - poroving I have at least a rudimentary grasp of aerodynamics



Note I used the term "theoritcal treadmill" and assigned it the relervant propoerties needed to get my point across.


So anyway the plane takes off because the treadmill makes has no effect on the ability of the plane to move forward through the air and thus the pressure differential on the wings is sufficent to provide lift.

Now back to licking your balls/driving your family saloon.

Read my earlier posts.

Btw, there are at least two of us with pilots licenses on this forum. A half hour pleasure flight doesn't make you one of them.

At RAF Gutersloh in Germany in the early 1970s they built a prism device at the end of the device because too many Lightnings were going into the hedge at the end of the runway; the effect was to force the aircraft into vertical pointing straight at the sky rockety type device.

Ah, the lightning. The only aircraft the RAF have ever had that would do Mach2 in a vertical climb

On its way to find a refuelling tanker!

[BlackenedBiker]

Read my earlier posts.

Btw, there are at least two of us with pilots licenses on this forum. A half hour pleasure flight doesn't make you one of them.

You are Churchill you can only respond "Oh Yes" to every single thread from now on.

[Menelaus]

Read my earlier posts.

Btw, there are at least two of us with pilots licenses on this forum. A half hour pleasure flight doesn't make you one of them.

WHS+1 (PPL)

[Mich the Tester]

Is there a decline % that allows you to run impressively fast in the gym without effort? On a bike you can calculate rolling resistance like this.

Perhaps, but most treadmills won't go much faster than about 20 kilometers per hour; as I said, there are specially built treadmills used my sprinters. Those treadmills can reach over 50 kph; faster than humans can run.

There are also horse treadmills which can reach truely horrifying speeds, where the horse is strapped to the treadmill.

Anyway, running downhill involves a lot of effort; you have to catch your weight each time, so the shock to your leg muscles and knees is greater than running on the flat. It's a form of plyometric training, which should only be used by people with a good basis of strength training. That's why athletics coaches only use downhill running for experienced sprinters who've built up the strength to do it without injury.

In Berlin and some other eastern European cities there used to be 100 metre tracks which could be moved up to an incline so that athletes could train on them. The sprinters would run uphill one week, downhill the next, flat the next, and then take an easy week; it proved to be an extremely effective method for training sprinters, even though the Eastern European successes in developing athletic training methods were ultimately overshadowed by drug issues. The method is still used by athletes all over the world, although often resistance training will be done pulling a small parachute or a car tyre and the downhill work will be done on a not too steep grassy incline.

If you've done any overspeed training you'll know that it doesn't feel tiring when you do it, but your legs hurt like hell the day after.

[Menelaus]

Read my earlier posts.

Btw, there are at least two of us with pilots licenses on this forum. A half hour pleasure flight doesn't make you one of them.



On its way to find a refuelling tanker!

Yep, and the possibly the least armed interceptor ever - two missiles, one cannon. I mean, FFS.

Guess that's what happens why you build the aircraft around the engine (see also: A-10, built aircraft around the gun)

[Peoplesoft bloke]

1 Yes it would take off
2 The correct spelling is Aeroplane unless you are a septic.
3 Licence as in PPL is with a 'C' - take a look at it (or your driving licence) - also unless you are a septic.

HTH

[gingerjedi]

I saw this question asked on a car forum about 2 years ago, after lots of reasoned arguments and about 300 posts a large majority agreed that the plane would take off which is the correct answer.

This pole suggests CUK is mostly populated by complete dunces with a few AndyW fetishists thrown in.

[threaded]

One of my favourite aircraft, the Fieseler Storch, was once landed on a tennis court to rescue Mussolini, and then took off again with him on board.

Now, one must admit that he was even fatter than Churchill, so a treadmill would not be too much to carry.

[TimberWolf]

I saw this question asked on a car forum about 2 years ago, after lots of reasoned arguments and about 300 posts a large majority agreed that the plane would take off which is the correct answer.

This pole suggests CUK is mostly populated by complete dunces with a few AndyW fetishists thrown in.

The poll answers reflect the correct answer. It will take off or not take off depending on how you interpret the question. That is:

(i)The plane could of course take off if you don't care about it matching the speed of the treadmill, this is unlike how treadmills are usually used, and the treadmill is a red herring. You would need a bit more power to take off than usual.
(ii) The plane will not lift off the treadmill if their speeds match (i.e. if the plane is stationary on the moving treadmill) as there is no lift on the wings.