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Originally Posted by cura
there's the threadmill working in one direction (horizontal) and gravity working in another (vertical)
the plane tries to both work horizontal in the opposite direction as the treadmill, because it needs to gather speed to be able to work vertical in the opposite direction of gravity
the plane will be pushed against the ground until it gains a significant horizontal speed, which it won't get because the treadmill makes sure it doesn't
to think the speed of the wheels balance out the speed of the treadmill and compare it to a waterplane or an "iceplane" or even a plane that hangs on a wire in the air is "plain" (hah see what I did there?) silly because a waterplane/iceplane needs to gather speed before it can lift off.. it's like trying to get an iceplane in the air that's trying to lift up with a rising runway (like a mountain) with engines that will never gain enough speed to counter-act the levity of the runway and gravity
it just won't work, gravity helps the treadmill
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The movement of the treadmill isn't causing the plane to move (significantly, provided the plane generates enough thrust to counteract the friction between wheels and axel which is a given since it can take off in any other scenario and would need to do this anyway), it's causing the wheels of the plane to move which aren't connected to any drive. So the wheels are spinning away under the plane at twice the speed of the treadmill (assuming it's keeping up with the speed of the plane) but the plane just has the frictional force of the wheels to overcome (which, as stated, it needs to do in any other situation), so accelerates and takes off pretty much as normal.
So would it be true that no additional thrust is required for the plane to take off?
Edit: I think the treadmill-rollerskates-and-a-rope thing made it clearer for me from that link whoever posted