Where I got stuck, at first, was when I assumed the conveyor's job was to spin at such a speed as to cancel out the plane's forward motion.
But when I looked at it in terms of force balance, I realized that even with some amount of friction involved, there's no way to know how fast the conveyor has to move to counter the thrust of the engine. It certainly has nothing to do with the speed of the plane.
Gravitational force doesn't really enter into it. If the plane can reach a sufficient speed relative to the ground (tower, etc.), and thus the air, then it will have the lift required to overcome gravity. (If friction is non-zero, then the friction force, which is counter to the thrust, is proportional to the plane's weight, as usual.)
Regards,
Tom
But when I looked at it in terms of force balance, I realized that even with some amount of friction involved, there's no way to know how fast the conveyor has to move to counter the thrust of the engine. It certainly has nothing to do with the speed of the plane.
Gravitational force doesn't really enter into it. If the plane can reach a sufficient speed relative to the ground (tower, etc.), and thus the air, then it will have the lift required to overcome gravity. (If friction is non-zero, then the friction force, which is counter to the thrust, is proportional to the plane's weight, as usual.)
Regards,
Tom
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