"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATcox.net wrote in message
...

"Travis Marlatte" wrote in message
et...
"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Jose wrote:

The wheels don't have to push on anything for an aircraft to take
off...there's no drivetrain feeding power to the wheels!

Right. Phrasing it the way I did may get people to realize this, or at
least to think about it themselves.

If you put an airplane on the roof of a speeding train, would it take
off? What if the train were shaped like a runway? What if it were
very
thin?

hmmmm, if you put the airplane on, say, a fast moving ship, could it
take off?

I wonder....

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate


I don't think so. I've seen videos of planes launching from an aircraft
carrier (that's a fast moving ship, right) fall right off the end. I
guess it's because the forward motion of the carrier negated the forward
thrust of the plane.


What you saw was an aircraft that failed to achieve and or retain a
critical airspeed. Either the catapult failed or the engine failed or,
well any number of things. There is a reason carriers turn into the wind
to launch aircraft. There is also a reason that carriers can't launch
fixed wing aircraft while tied to the dock. Well they might be able to but
a lot of things have to be perfect.


Thanks. But it was a joke. I do question the word "can't" in your
explanation. I would believe "can't launch some fixed wing aircraft but not
as a general statement.

--
-------------------------------
Travis
Lake N3094P
PWK