The question - a gigantic treadmill is the same length as a modern runway. It moves in the opposite direction of the plane taking off. As the plane applies thrust/increases, the treadmill moves faster. Will the plane take off, yes, no and why.

Ninja - I'm particularly interested in what your dad says. Ask him next time you get a chance.

my answer will come after I can contemplate this for a bit, just wanted to commend you on your drawing.

-Bobby

My MS Paint skills are flawless.

NO, it will not take off. Silly as it may be but this is my thought on this. I dont think the plan is moving. I mean if you sat on one of thes wing as it was going along on the treadmill, would you feel wind? I just put myself in its place....and when I run on the tread mill, no matter how hard I pump my legs....Im not really moving anywhere. Hmmmmm Im just not sure....but Im gonna say that

yes it will take off, because the thrust is parallel to the treadmill and not perpendicular to the treadmill

for it to not take off, it needs thrust as such of the following illustration:

My answer would be no, for an plane to get lift, it requires air moving over the wings to create the lift. If the plane is stationary on a treadmill there would be no air going over or under the wings fast enough to provide the adequate lift needed. You'll get a really expensive rocket car.

It would depend on the acceleration of the treadmill and the jet's ability to overcome it, assuming this is a traditional jet and not a VSTOL aircraft. If the acceleration of the treadmill is linear and slow, the jet may be able to overcome its reduction of acceleration and generate enough lift to take off especially if the jet is heading into the wind. If the treadmill's acceleration is exponential or in anyway too significant, the jet wouldn't take off. If the effective speed on the landing gear increased too far about 200 kts/hr however, the gear would eventually rip off causing much fire and carnage.

So far no right answers. Josh answered correctly, but I think he's high, because I didn't understand the reasoning of his answer at all. I shall wait for more posts

Basically it flies unless the acceleration is so great that it generates enough drag to actually significantly counter the acceleration generated by the thrust though by that point the drag would have long since ripped the gear off.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=428718

my answer is still no, the plane isn't moving, thus no air to generate lift, no matter the speed.