Can and aircraft takeoff from a moving conveyor belt?

Question

It's a question that has been going around lately. The Myth Busters and going to check it out in their new season. What do you think though?

I think that the aircraft is being propelled by the actual engine it's self, not the wheels/gear so thus you will go forward. There are many variables to this...

Answer 1

Yes.  The thing that counts is the relative velocity between the aircraft and the incident airstream.  This velocity can arise from either or both of the airplane moving on the surface on which it is sitting, due to the thrust of its engine, or the surface moving, as the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Answer 2

give it airspeed and it fly"s "anywhere" !

Answer 3

You need  a certain amount of air over the wing to fly, when you get that, your off. A plane can take off without moving (over the ground) with enough wind.

Answer 4

I see where your going with this but the plane would stil have to have the throttles up at take off speed,,

say a giant belt rotated on a runway and was turn at 150 mph,, the aircraft would have to be at lift of speed just perfect or it would fall back down....

Very good question to askkkkkk now can one land on a belt

hmm landing at 140 the belt could be reversed, you concievabley could never run out of runway, so i guess you could land at 200 mph...lol

In 30 years in this industry ive never thought about it but it one could be built it would have to be 200 feet wide versus the current 150 and sit about one foot off the ground...

Now how could we keep the plane from slideing off... hmmm would a drag hook like an aircraft carrier work????

very interest concept,,,

Answer 5

hey now there's a new concept. No need to walk down past all those gates and crowded jet ways. We board the aircraft in the baggage area and then conveyor it right into flight. Man, whoever brings that up to airport operations at O'Hare will be rich beyond his wildest dreams. Or arrested. Jeez.

Answer 6

There's a similar stunt done at airshows over the years

where a small plane (Piper Cub?) is attached to the roof/deck

of a van that drives down the runway launching the aircraft.

At the end of the performance the plane lands

back on top of the truck racing down the runway.

Good stunt and it uses the same principles as launching

from a conveyor belt.

Answer 7

Yes it can it was on tv today it is possible

Answer 8

The myth us confusing because of its wording.  For the plane to takeoff it would still need to achieve takeoff speed relative to the wind.

Now if a conveyor belt was going 150mph in the opposite direction, and a jet needed to achieve 150mph for liftoff, the speed of the tires would reach 300mph and they would shred apart.

It works better with planes that takeoff at slow speeds.

Answer 9

The main thing that allow the plane to take off, land, and even stay up is the shape of the wing and basic aerodynamics. You basically need the engines to make the aircraft go "forward" to allow the right flow of air over/under the wings. So even though the conveyor belt idea might be able to, theoretically speaking, make the plane takeoff, it will soon crash land!

Think about it this way, if you had the aircraft on a conveyor belt on the other side (acting like a treadmill). I.e. you have the engines running at full speed, with the conveyor belt running in the same speed, but the opposite direction. You will have a plane that is going nowhere! Therefore, the plane is not propelled by the actual engine itself.

Answer 10

Airplanes have been "launched" from the roofs of cars and from on top of larger airplanes.  Many research airplanes have been "launched" from under the wing of a larger aircraft.

Also, when launching from an aircraft carrier, an airplane benefits from the forward speed of the ship, which may be as much as 30 knots or so.

So sure, it would work.  Who has the money to build such a contraption?