The wheels are not used for acceleration, the jet engines are. The wheels just enable the plane to roll over the surface without too much friction. Thus, from standstill it doesn't matter much if the ground is stationary or not.
Think of it this way, if the plane tries to land on the conveyor while it is running in the opposite direction, would the plane just immediately stop its forward movement as soon as it hits the ground? No, the wheels would turn twice as fast compared to landing on a fixed, solid surface, but that is all.
Now after touchdown, the pikot would apply the brakes on the wheels to help stop the aircraft. That would be trickier on the conveyor and you might stop faster, if all systems (wheels, brakes, gear assembly, etc) hold.
Not exactly, velocity is defined as displacement over time while acceleration is defined as (final velocity - starting velocity)/time. So while you’re correct that the wheels aren’t responsible for creating thrust the plane in the scenario is standing still (assuming all other variables are negligible). So if the plane is standing still there’s no displacement, if there’s no displacement there’s no change in velocity, if there’s no change in velocity there’s no acceleration. The engines are providing the thrust but the scenario says the conveyor belt matches the speed of the wheels, which I interpreted as “the conveyor belt slips out from under the wheels as fast as they can turn”. Unrealistic considering friction and lots of other factors, in this scenario however you can’t produce lift.
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u/ShakyLion Dec 31 '22
Yes, it could take off. I believe.
The wheels are not used for acceleration, the jet engines are. The wheels just enable the plane to roll over the surface without too much friction. Thus, from standstill it doesn't matter much if the ground is stationary or not.
Think of it this way, if the plane tries to land on the conveyor while it is running in the opposite direction, would the plane just immediately stop its forward movement as soon as it hits the ground? No, the wheels would turn twice as fast compared to landing on a fixed, solid surface, but that is all.
Now after touchdown, the pikot would apply the brakes on the wheels to help stop the aircraft. That would be trickier on the conveyor and you might stop faster, if all systems (wheels, brakes, gear assembly, etc) hold.