# Mythbusters - Airplane on a treadmill!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862 "2008-01-17T14:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/1 "2008-01-17T14:24:47Z")
I DVR’d it and haven’t watched it yet. I guess their producers read The Dope. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/2 "2008-01-17T14:56:24Z")
If I recall correctly, our own **Q.E.D.** works for the show. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/3 "2008-01-17T15:05:39Z")
I don’t think he does anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/4 "2008-01-17T15:07:49Z")
It’s out already? Dang, I wanted to DVR it. It was filmed at my site; I didn’t find out until they were on their way out, or I’d have gone and watched the filming. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/5 "2008-01-17T15:39:08Z")
Last night was the James Bond special. No airplanes, just flying speedboats, exploding propane tanks and magnetic watches. According to Adam, the plane-on-a-treadmill episode is coming [“real soon”.](http://dsc.discovery.com/video/?playerId=203711706&categoryId=210013704&lineupId=1283221956&titleId=1347908538) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/6 "2008-01-17T15:40:13Z")
Also the aeroplane on a treadmill question is not unique to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/7 "2008-01-17T15:46:53Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] Also the aeroplane on a treadmill question is not unique to the SDMB. [/QUOTE] Unique? No, but it was really popularized here, leading to an actual column Cecil answered, which thus propelled it off the internet and into “real life,” as it were. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/8 "2008-01-17T15:53:32Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] Unique? No, but it was really popularized here, leading to an actual column Cecil answered, which thus propelled it off the internet and into “real life,” as it were. [/QUOTE] I think we were one of the many places on the interwebs that have played with this recently. You give the SDMB too much credit. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/9 "2008-01-17T15:54:56Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] Unique? No, but it was really popularized here, leading to an actual column Cecil answered, which thus propelled it off the internet and into “real life,” as it were. [/QUOTE] Was it though? I’m not saying you’re wrong, just how do we know that? I was aware of the question before I ever saw it on here. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Comte\_de\_Mortain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aca169/32.png) [@Le\_Comte\_de\_Mortain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Comte_de_Mortain)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/10 "2008-01-17T16:23:20Z")
I partook in an huge thread about it on a European board. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/11 "2008-01-17T19:18:51Z")
So far, I have found no evidence that Wilbur and Orville considered using a conveyor belt, instead of taking the whole operation to Kitty Hawk. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/12 "2008-01-17T19:29:52Z")
Well, I hate to be “that guy”, but I’m in class and somewhat restricted on searches - where’s the thread y’all are talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/13 "2008-01-17T19:37:44Z")
[QUOTE=singular1] Well, I hate to be “that guy”, but I’m in class and somewhat restricted on searches - where’s the thread y’all are talking about? [/QUOTE] There are at least a dozen different threads. Search on treadmill. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/14 "2008-01-17T19:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] Was it though? I’m not saying you’re wrong, just how do we know that? I was aware of the question before I ever saw it on here. [/QUOTE] Well, yes, it was all over the internet, but I think it being a thread here is what led to it being one of Cecil’s columns more than anything else. And despite what those of us “on the internet” like to think, not everything that is a HUGE THING here is even noticed by people who don’t go to message boards, forums, community sites, and the like. So it did take the question being circulated in thousands of newspapers across the country for a large part of the US to know about it, I would say. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/15 "2008-01-17T19:52:45Z")
The date I heard on Metafilter (where Adam is actually a member) was January 30. I predict an Internet Civil War on the 31st. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/16 "2008-01-17T20:56:41Z")
Google the question and you get a great many hits. One of them was a forum used by actual aviators, the majority of whom seemed sucked into the idea that their planes were propelled along the ground and into the sky not by a propeller or jet engine, but by the wheels :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/17 "2008-01-18T00:10:55Z")
[QUOTE=Telemark] There are at least a dozen different threads. Search on treadmill. [/QUOTE] I’m trying, but I keep dropping my laptop. ☹ Maybe if I slowed it down a bit… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/18 "2008-01-18T00:58:24Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Google the question and you get a great many hits. One of them was a forum used by actual aviators, the majority of whom seemed sucked into the idea that their planes were propelled along the ground and into the sky not by a propeller or jet engine, but by the wheels :dubious: [/QUOTE] Many people posting on aviation forums, e.g., PPRuNe, are not aviators. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/19 "2008-01-18T01:25:13Z")
[QUOTE=Wolfian] I’m trying, but I keep dropping my laptop. ☹ Maybe if I slowed it down a bit… [/QUOTE] :applause: ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862/20 "2008-01-18T18:32:04Z")
SDMB is no way near the first place this happened. I remember reading threads on the issue on the IGN message boards way longer before I read them here. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-airplane-on-a-treadmill/433862.md?page=2)