# Ok man up..Admit it who was wrong about the whole plane on a treadmill thingy...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 21, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643 "2008-02-21T23:42:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/1 "2008-02-21T23:42:07Z")
And dont say that it depends on how the question was asked…You know who you are! Admit your fault and bow down to us and our superior intelligence muahahah
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### Author:  [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/2 "2008-02-21T23:52:33Z")
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12]
And dont say that it depends on how the question was asked…You know who you are! Admit your fault and bow down to us and our superior intelligence muahahah
[/QUOTE]
You’re superior intelligence, huh?
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### Author:  [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/3 "2008-02-22T00:34:25Z")
yes, i just dont care about gramm **er** 😉
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### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/4 "2008-02-22T01:08:28Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger]
You’re superior intelligence, huh?
[/QUOTE]
You are superior intelligence, huh?
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### Author:  [@Labelless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labelless)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/5 "2008-02-22T01:11:31Z")
[QUOTE=Icarus]
You are superior intelligence, huh?
[/QUOTE]
I’ve always heard a about a superior lake, perhaps it is filled with intelligence.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/6 "2008-02-22T01:18:37Z")
[QUOTE=Icarus]
You are superior intelligence, huh?
[/QUOTE]
[neenering}I know you are, but what am I?[/neenering]
Wait a minute…
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### Author:  [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/7 "2009-02-20T20:37:04Z")
Hey, was this ever settled?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/8 "2009-02-20T20:58:45Z")
I’ll tell you who was wrong.
Tomorrow, maybe.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/9 "2009-02-20T21:09:55Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#):
>
> Hey, was this ever settled?
The guys from the Mythbusters TV show said [the plane certainly can take off](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2008_season)#Episode_97_.E2.80.93_.22Airplane_on_a_Conveyor_Belt.22), for what it’s worth.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/10 "2009-02-20T22:07:00Z")
It was only because the explanation was buggered-I was mislead by the hopelessly ambiguous wording that they were saying that the plane would take off while stationary WRT the surrounding (non-conveyor belt) terrain (i.e. zero airspeed), and I didn’t see how that was possible. Once someone clarified that it would still move forward despite the belt I bought it, tho I still say you could interpret the original setup as implying that the belt will always and forever attempt to retard the forward movement of the aircraft until the point that the belt, the plane’s tires, and/or some other vital piece of machinery overloads and goes kablooey. Yes I’ve seen the Mythbuster’s ep which used the “official” interpretation to construct its experiment.
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### Author:  [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/11 "2009-02-21T00:57:05Z")
I didn’t understand it before I saw Mythbusters, and I still don’t.
Oh, and by the way, I’m a professional pilot.
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### Author:  [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/12 "2009-02-21T00:59:17Z")
Is air flowing over the wings? No? Then the plane doesn’t take off. The end.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/13 "2009-02-21T04:19:40Z")
You want to know who was wrong about a plane on a treadmill? Hitler.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/14 "2009-02-21T05:05:20Z")
> [@Mosier](#):
>
> Is air flowing over the wings?
That depends on how you interpret the question. There are two interpretations. In one, by definition, the aeroplane doesn’t move relative to the earth and so it doesn’t take-off, in the other, the aeroplane does move relative to the earth so it does take off but its wheels spin at twice the normal speed. Once you grasp that, you’ll realise it is absolutely pointless arguing about it.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/15 "2009-02-21T05:07:41Z")
> [@Mosier](#):
>
> Is air flowing over the wings? No? Then the plane doesn’t take off. The end.
And here we go again.
The engines/prop push the plane, so it really doesn’t matter what the wheels and treadmill are doing. The plane moves forward, air goes over the wings, plane takes off. If the engine were driving the wheels (like in a car) it would be a different story.
It’s been argued to death and proven (in the field, not just on paper) that it will still take off.
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### Author:  [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/16 "2009-02-21T05:15:30Z")
I admit that I was totally wrong about the plane on a treadmill (not on this site, but another). Of course, I was snookered by a misleading setup explanation that made me think the plane would be stationary relative to the Earth at all times. I would have figured it out a LOT faster if someone had cogently explained that the airplane will always move forward w/r/t the earth, regardless of the treadmill because the tires aren’t driving the plane forward. I was imagining that my opponents were arguing that the plane was rising straight up into the air with zero airspeed. Once I figured out they were not, it was a lot easier to understand my mistake.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/17 "2009-02-21T17:33:10Z")
If you’re talking about the Mythbuster’s experment, I was wrong.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/18 "2009-02-21T17:43:46Z")
**Joey P** , I think you were just successfully whooshed.
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### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/19 "2009-02-21T18:11:51Z")
> [@bobo t](#):
>
> If you’re talking about the Mythbuster’s experment, I was wrong.
Even the pilot they were working with was wrong. He didn’t think it’d take off either.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-man-up-admit-it-who-was-wrong-about-the-whole-plane-on-a-treadmill-thingy/438643/20 "2009-02-21T18:25:53Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#):
>
> **Joey P** , I think you were just successfully whooshed.
How so?