Would It Take Off?
Discussion
Rog - I don't blame you for not reading all these pages...
Most of it is me b*lloCking people and then adding up very badly whilst 58000 people watch...
BUT - for your benefit:
We are arguing that he plane will go forward as normal...therefore getting its lift in the usual manner.
We reckon the wheels and conveyor thing won't get in the way of the jet engine pushing the plane onwards with very fast spinny wheels
Most of it is me b*lloCking people and then adding up very badly whilst 58000 people watch...
BUT - for your benefit:
We are arguing that he plane will go forward as normal...therefore getting its lift in the usual manner.
We reckon the wheels and conveyor thing won't get in the way of the jet engine pushing the plane onwards with very fast spinny wheels
scared but happy said:
Right. What we need is a supercomputer and some good programmers with a lot of spare time. How much is a 2nd hand Cray? Well, I mean if they can simulate an atomic bomb this will be a piece of p
s
We don't need to go that far. We just need people to actually read the arguments put forward so far. There still seems to be quite a lot of people who don't realise the plane is moving in the normal fashion. They seem to think the plane is positionally stationary and that the only way lift can be created is through the magic properties of this particular conveyor belt runway thingumibob.
These people just need to realise that the plane will act in exactly the same way whether the runway could - or does - move at all.
Here's an idea, let's switch this runway around. Now the runway matches the speed of the plane BUT IN THE SAME DIRECTION. So as the plane heads of down the runway in a said direction, the runway instantly matches the planes speed in the same direction. What is the result? The plane still takes off, as normal, in exactly the same way as it would if the runway were not moving. The only difference would be that the wheels of the plane would not be turning (and hence, spinning after liftoff) at all, because the ground below them (the runway) would not have been moving in relation to the position of the plane.
And that is the crux of this particular issue: the direction and speed of movement of the runway makes no difference to how the plane takes off. The only reason the wheels turn is because the tyres are touching the ground - they move AS AND BECAUSE the plane is moving, they DO NOT PROPEL the plane itself. Whether the runway goes forwards or backwards, at 1mph or 3,000mph, or just stays completely still, does not effect the fact that the plane takes off in exactly the same way every time. The co-ordinates of the planes parked position and takeoff position would change in the same way no matter what the runway does. The plane DOES move!
On an aircraft carrier the plane would fall off the edge no matter what the speed of the runway, because it still needs to have built up enough speed to attain enough lift to get off the ground. The plane would not be able to build up sufficient speed on the aircraft carrier as there isn't enough room, hence the catapult systems that aircraft carriers have. So to reiterate, the plane needs to be travelling at a certain speed to allow airflow to give lift and make takeoff possible. To get to this speed the plane needs to have travelled through the air - it doesn't just automatically set off at 200mph (hence the need for the catapults).
>> Edited by ehyouwhat on Thursday 9th March 19:51
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff