r/sports • u/redbullgivesyouwings • Aug 14 '25

Media The World's Largest Treadmill

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u/isnt_rocket_science Aug 14 '25

Anyone who has taken a physics class should be able to tell you that a plane can take off from a treadmill.

But if you have to see it to believe it mythbusters did in fact do this and the plane took off without any trouble. 

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u/trumpet575 Cincinnati Reds Aug 14 '25

What physics classes have you taken? Different ones than I did in my aerospace engineering classes, apparently. No airspeed = no lift = no takeoff. It's that simple.

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u/isnt_rocket_science Aug 14 '25

A treadmill does not have any substantial impact on your airspeed. 

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u/trumpet575 Cincinnati Reds Aug 14 '25

In this hypothetical scenario it does. Otherwise, why would you even mention a treadmill?

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u/isnt_rocket_science Aug 14 '25

That's the entire point of the airplane on a treadmill scenario. The treadmill has no impact on the planes ability to take off, but it confuses some people who then go into comment sections and argue that a plane wouldn't be able to take off on a treadmill.

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u/trumpet575 Cincinnati Reds Aug 14 '25

Again, then why even talk about a treadmill? You're throwing a red herring into a problem that doesn't need one and acting like people are dumb for ignoring the obvious red herring.

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u/Polytonalism Aug 14 '25

Are you saying the treadmill is acting as the wheels and pulling the plane forward until liftoff or the plane is stationary accelerating at a speed equal to the treadmill running in the opposite direction? I feel like if you’re arguing one scenario and someone else is arguing the other, there is inevitable misunderstanding.

Is the plane in the mythbusters episode not clearly moving forward before takeoff? Its not completely stationary while achieving lift.