Forum menu
it's a slow day in the office, anyone got a link to the stw dweeb fest par excellence ?
can't find it in the search.
It won't 😉
Picolax is funnier
All you need to know is that it will 😆
i need to know the conditions involved. is it a big long runway sized conveyer belt or is it on a treadmill ?
i need to know the conditions involved. is it a big long runway sized conveyer belt or is it on a treadmill ?
Doesn't matter really. On a short treadmill it will move forward, fall off the end and then take off as normal.
On a long runway sized treadmill it will move forward and take off as normal.
(amazingly some people still don't get this 😯 )
Thinking about it. The best way to solve this one is to lobby the government so that Heathrow Runway 3 is built as a massive conveyor belt. That would settle it once and for all.
[img] 
?w=640&h=415[/img]
I think the original thread was lost years ago.
I think the original thread was lost years ago.
I think it has been discussed on pretty much every chat forum on the internet at some point or other - google should provide a few good snippets 😀
Badger badger badger badger . . . .
best thread ever!
Baby Robin on a conveyor belt ?
Now thats funny.
Mythbusters busted it:
[url=
on a conveyor belt[/url]
Case closed
I can't believe the pilot in that Mythbusters video thought it wouldn't work 😯
You'd hope that pilots would have a better understand of how planes fly!
GrahamS - Why? I have been using computers for a living for years and other than basic stuff about how they work I'd be in no more position to explain how they really work than the next man. My best guess is magic.
That said I do know how planes fly and why the "discussion" is so comically stupid so perhaps it's a shit analogy
Well yeah - I don't expect pilots to be aerospace engineers - but I had [i]hoped[/i] they'd understand fairly rudimentary principles of flight. 😆
The mythbusters experiment doesn't really match the true "spirit" of the plane on a conveyer question though as the conveyer is undergoing travel in a direction (rather than being stationary but rotating)
Air movement in and around the wings generates lift, so if the plane is moving, because the conveyer is, as in the mythbusters experiment, if you're lucky, at some point, lift is greater than gravity, and the plane will take off.
The proper test should be when the plane is on a stationary but still rotating conveyer... 😉
The proper test should be when the plane is on a stationary but still rotating conveyer...
You don't understand this, do you?
I included the 😉 ....
Make of that what you will 
The proper test should be when the plane is on a stationary but still rotating conveyer...
I can answer this.
No matter if the plane is on a treadmill, Swiss ball or excerise bike. It'll only take off if its moving. Or it's very, very windy. 🙂
The proper test should be when the plane is on a stationary but still rotating conveyer...
[img] 
[/img]
What's this about?
What's this about?
Trust me. You [i]really[/i] don't want to know.
GrahamS
"The proper test should be when the plane is on a stationary but still rotating conveyer... "
Eek! Worded that badly.... The proper test should be when the plane is on a conveyer that is stationary relative to the earth, but the belt on which the plane is sitting on is still rotating... 😉
[img] 
[/img]
what if a delorean was on a treadmill that was doing 88mph?
I can't believe the pilot in that Mythbusters video thought it wouldn't work
You'd hope that pilots would have a better understand of how planes fly!
Pilot was 100% correct - test protocol was 100% incompetent!
Pilot was 100% correct - test protocol was 100% incompetent!
Explain (or refer to meme above ^^)
Easiest way to explain - what do you think would have happened to the aircraft's position in relation to a specfic point on the ground if the pilot had not fired up the engine as the car accelerated?
Well it would have moved backwards with the tarp, though probably at a slower speed than the tarp.
[img] 
[/img]
though probably at a slower speed than the tarp.
Why so? (once you take the initial inertia out of the equation).
what if a delorean was on a treadmill that was doing 88mph?
Do we know if the flux capacitor drives the wheels or generates thrust?
the new aircraft carriers...can't they be fitted with with conveyor belts instead of catapults
well the speedo was linked to the wheels in the delorean... so that would suggest maybe wheel speed/revs was enough?
ahhh but then in like BTTF 3 it flies...
shame.
well the speedo was linked to the wheels in the delorean... so that would suggest maybe wheel speed/revs was enough?
Are you sure?
ahhh but then in like BTTF 3 it flies...shame
Doesn't it fly at the end of the first film - though admittedly this is when it has returned to the present from the future (that is to say once it had the hovering wheels upgrade)
Why so? (once you take the initial inertia out of the equation).
Tarp Direction: <----
Forces acting <---- are pulling the plane by the base of its wheels. Wheels can spin freely.
Forces resisting this, acting only on the plane, are inertia (as you said) plus I would suppose some [i]slight[/i] drag from wind resistance, increasing with speed.
Forces <--- are obviously far greater than forces -->, but forces -> are only acting on the plane, so it has less total force acting in <- than the tarp and is free to spin its wheels.
Still don't see how this helps your argument.
yeh im sure its wheel speed based. speedo drive goes the centre of the hub.
shame tho, the flying has wrecked it.
Baby Robin on a conveyor belt?
Tried that one. It just falls out of the sky when it reaches the end of the conveyor belt......
[img] 
[/img]
speedo drive goes the centre of the hub.
Oh is the scene where they repair the speedo only in the directors cut?
shame tho, the flying has wrecked it.
That bloody Doc Emmett Brown; being all good at inventing stuff
So if the conveyor belt is moving at 25mph in this case, what speed would the plane be moving backward in your estimation with the engine turned off?
Next question. Are you agreed that the plane would have to apply some thrust to prevent it from going backwards in relation to a fixed point on the ground whilst on the conveyor belt (but not necessarily to actually move forwards in relation to a fixed point on the ground)?
So if the conveyor belt is moving at 25mph in this case, what speed would the plane be moving backward in your estimation with the engine turned off?
I dunno - lets say 24mph for arguments sake?
Are you agreed that the plane would have to apply some thrust to prevent it from going backwards in relation to a fixed point on the ground whilst on the conveyor belt
Yep.
[img] 
[/img]