Can the Plane Take-Off?

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Protronie

Yes but... the thrust from the prop pulls the plane forward so air rushes over the wings to produce lift.
Would the prop-wash alone be enough to produce the required air moving over the wings flight surface in order to produce the lift needed?

No, it doesn't. The prop wash can give a little extra lift, but it's trivial compared to the speed of the aircraft.

Why is this even a three-year question? Assume the airplane is sitting still on a frictionless surface with its wheels spinning at an infinite speed. This is pretty much the situation described in the "conveyor belt" scenario. When thrust is applied, the airplane with infinitely-fast wheels will still take off, right? The rotational speed of the wheels is irrelevant (as others have said -- ski and float planes still work).

By the way, some people have invoked bearing friction to explain why the airplane won't move. If you want to bring real-world physics into this, there is no way to design an runway-sized conveyor belt that would respond instantly to the speed of the aircraft. Inertia and control loop delay would mean that the thought problem isn't possible. If you invoke bearing friction, you have to design an inertia-less conveyor.