The Return of the most infamous HB thread of all time... :D

[2manymustangs]

Oh, oh wow. LOL. That was mind boggling, to say the least. I'll have whatever he's having. LOL. The treadmill is a non issue. All it needs to do is be large enough and long enough and fast enough to fulfill the requirements of the question. The friction is between the wheels of the plane and the surface of the treadmill. If anything, you need bearings on all those wheels that can withstand the stress. Again, all you need to know is this. It's all about the speed of the wheels. period. YOu get caught up in all the other BS and that's your downfall. The wheels transmit the thrust into movement. as long as the treadmill is moving in the OPPOSITE direction the plane is traveling, and the treadmill and wheels are moving at the same speed but in opposite directions, the plane will not move. Deal with it. YOu have overthought this way too far. It's actually very simple.

With one caveat. the original question ONLY posed the problem using a 747. There are other types of planes that will fly. The 747 and other types of aircraft will not.

Can a man pull one of your train cars with his teeth if the track is level? If so how can this be, the train weighs TONS...