The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #147881   Message #3430282
Posted By: DMcG
03-Nov-12 - 03:25 AM
Thread Name: BS: The Mythbusters airplane takeoff problem
Subject: RE: BS: The Mythbusters airplane takeoff problem
The plane should be able to take off, in most cases. Sunset John's analysis is right until he says "as the plane is in the same spot there will be no airflow". There are two sources of the airflow in normal circumstances: the wind from the environment and the wind created by the propellers. The sum of these create the total air flow over the wings and when that is more that a certain amount, the plane will take off. Moving forward increases the effect of the environmental wind, as does taking off into the wind rather than against it, but for a powerful enough propeller, it would not be necessary to require any environmental component.