I watched a Mythbusters this evening and this episode was about an airplane on a conveyer belt… The plane is going one direction, the conveyer belt is going the other direction at the same speed. What happens?
Well the myth is that the plane will sit there… Hello??? Why did this even have to be tested? I heard the premise and was like, well there is no question that the plane is going to take off, it isn’t a car, it is a plane, the wheel speed is pretty much immaterial unless it is causing tremendous drag on the forward motion and that is a function of poor rolling wheels not a conveyer belt.
The pilot they brought in to fly the plane actually believed the plane would sit in one place “like a brick”… ???? Come on. Seriously? Planes aren’t cars where any old idiot can get behind the wheel, or at least I would like to think so, seems like you should have some understanding of the physics of why the planes fly, etc.
Anyway… We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.
