# A plane on a treadmill blah blah blah
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 4, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042 "2006-03-04T14:27:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/1 "2006-03-04T14:27:03Z")
Is it just me or is this whole debate the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard?
Wind over wings=lift.
No wind over wings=no lift.
Everything else is intellectual wankery.
Discuss.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/2 "2006-03-04T14:58:53Z")
No, that debate wasn’t the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
The stupidest thing I’ve ever heard was an OP that tried to restart the debate.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/3 "2006-03-04T15:48:09Z")
Personally I thought the many “plane/treadmill question is stupid!” threads were the most pointless threads on this board. If you don’t like a particular topic, just ignore it- nobody is forcing you to read it.
I actually learned some interesting things by participating in the original plane/treadmill thread. I admit the later incarnations (e.g. after Cecil’s artcle) were somewhat repetitive, but that didn’t really bother me. I just stopped reading the thread and and that’s that.
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### Author:  [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/4 "2006-03-04T15:59:05Z")
I have to admit some sympathy here. Sorta reminded me of the Simpson’s episode “Bart The Genius” where the kids start pulling up random facts solely to show just how smart they really are, and how stupid Bart is for not being as smart as they are. Cuz, see, they are really smart. See, they know stuff. And stuff.
But, as above, nobody forced us to click the links.
-Tcat
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/5 "2006-03-04T16:17:56Z")
> [@Tomcat](#):
>
> Sorta reminded me of the Simpson’s episode “Bart The Genius” where the kids start pulling up random facts solely to show just how smart they really are…
When discussing a supposedly real-life physics question, it’s entirely appropriate to start out with an over-simplified model, then discuss whether the small effects omitted from that model are really neglibible or not, e.g. “Hey, you ignored air resistance, are you sure that’s a good idea?”.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/6 "2006-03-05T00:15:34Z")
It makes me think of that one episode of _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ where Geordi and Data propose beaming some sort of endlessly recursive math problem into the Borg hivemind to entangle their thinking centers and cripple the culture. At the time, I thought, yeah, pshaw, right.
Now I’m imagining Data bellying up to the transmission console and typing: “Imagine you have a 747 on a treadmill…”
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/7 "2006-03-05T00:56:37Z")
> [@cabdude](#):
>
> Is it just me or is this whole debate the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard?
>
> Wind over wings=lift.
>
> No wind over wings=no lift.
>
> Everything else is intellectual wankery.
>
> Discuss.
It wouldn’t be so bad if every tenth post wasn’t from some clown who thinks he has the definitive answer and then proceeds to post standard wrong answer number 1, demonstrating that he hasn’t even bothered to read the thread.
It is made even worse by the start of a new freaking thread each week so they can all go over the same stuff again, and again, and again.
There almost need to be a sticky with a summary of the three standard arguments, why they are right and why they are wrong.
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/8 "2006-03-05T01:03:04Z")
Two planes on a treadmill walk into a bar… (Stop me if you’ve heard this one)
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### Author:  [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/9 "2006-03-05T02:25:30Z")
I’m somewhat embarassed to admit that I didn’t really get it until Friday’s column. That being said…I really didn’t think about it much either. Nor did I post about it. Now I’m over it.
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/10 "2006-03-05T07:45:44Z")
> [@whitetho](#):
>
> Two planes on a treadmill walk into a bar… (Stop me if you’ve heard this one)
When a plane on a treadmill reaches the speed of sound, it goes “Quack” without echoing, and no one knows why.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/11 "2006-03-05T09:20:40Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#):
>
> When a plane on a treadmill reaches the speed of sound, it goes “Quack” without echoing, and no one knows why.
But it’s a very special quack that rhymes with both “orange” and “purple,” and ends in “-gry”.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/12 "2006-03-05T10:02:33Z")
> [@cabdude](#):
>
> Is it just me or is this whole debate the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard?
>
> Wind over wings=lift.
>
> No wind over wings=no lift.
>
> Everything else is intellectual wankery.
>
> Discuss.
If the wheels are being “tugged at” enough by the velocity of the treadmill then they could act as a break on the plane…
Heh.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/13 "2006-03-05T18:41:59Z")
> [@cabdude](#):
>
> Is it just me or is this whole debate the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard?
On the SDMB? Nope. Try reading the “.999… = 1?” threads. Even the people who should know better give the wrong arguments.
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### Author:  [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/14 "2006-03-05T19:41:18Z")
Q. Will a plane on a treadmill take off?
A: 42.
\ I guess that isn’t it either.
Moving on…
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/15 "2006-03-05T23:57:41Z")
> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> But it’s a very special quack that rhymes with both “orange” and “purple,” and ends in “-gry”.
And it’s only been done once. In 1960. For 20 minutes.
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### Author:  [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2006, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/16 "2006-03-06T01:20:23Z")
This one time, at band camp, I was in a plane on a treadmill…
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### Author:  [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/17 "2006-03-06T02:04:00Z")
> [@Malacandra](#):
>
> And it’s only been done once. In 1960. For 20 minutes.
By pirates wielding 1920’s style death rays.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2006, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plane-on-a-treadmill-blah-blah-blah/347042/18 "2006-03-06T10:38:38Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#):
>
> By pirates wielding 1920’s style death rays.
And when they came back, they brought pie.