The closure, it draws near. Remember the epic thread about the plane and the conveyor belt from last year...the one that pitted pilot against physicist against random internet commenter? In an upcoming episode of Mythbusters, they're going to air the results of a test they conducted with an ultralight and a quarter-mile-long conveyor belt:

If a plane is traveling at takeoff speed on a conveyor belt, and that conveyor belt is matching the speed in reverse, can the plane take off? "We put the plane on a quarter-mile conveyor belt and tested it out," says Savage about the experiment using a pilot and his Ultralight plane. "I won't tell you what the outcome was, but the pilot and his entire flight club got it wrong."

Awesome. If the laws of physics hold, that plane should take off. (thx, matt)

Tags for this entry:  science  airplanes  physics  mythbusters 

This entry was published in November 2007.

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