A Pilot’s Blog
A blog about aviation, aviation news, and space.

Last year, I posed on this blog the question of the “Treadmill Problem”. That is, if a runway was turned into a giant treadmill that could exactly match the rotational speed of the wheels of an aircraft trying to takeoff, would the aircraft ever takeoff? Well, earlier this week the infamous MythBusters took on that very problem.

They first performed a small-scale test with a model airplane and a real treadmill. The result? The model airplane took off. They then performed a much larger scale test with a real ultralight aircraft on an actual runway. They used a huge roll of tarp material pulled in the opposite direction of the aircraft by a pickup truck. The result? The airplane took off with little effort. They explained the science behind it. In a car, forward motion is generated by friction between the tires and the road surface, so on a treadmill a car would remain still. However, in an aircraft, the actual forward thrust is provided by the propeller or jet engines, the wheels just allow the aircraft to easily roll. So, no matter how fast the treadmill moves under the wheels, the aircraft easily takes off. It makes sense.

Related: The Treadmill Problem | The Treadmill Problem Revisited

As the year 2007 draws to a close, I can’t help but reflect back on perhaps one of the saddest events of the year for me, the disappearance of Steve Fossett. At the outset of that ordeal, I had held out the hope that somehow, by the grace of God, he had only had a minor problem and would either walk back to the remote airstrip he took off from a couple days later, or be picked up by a rescue helicopter from the Nevada desert. Sadly, we now know that would not be the case. For whatever reason, Mr. Fossett lost his life out there and I can only hope that his remains will some day be recovered to both give closure to his family and to hopefully find out what happened.

Because of this, I feel so very fortunate that I was at the right place at the right time to witness his non-stop solo circumnavigation flight into history. While attending Kansas State University - Salina, the campus of which is directly adjacent to the Salina Municipal Airport, I was able to watch him takeoff from beside the runway, and was also there to watch his return three days later, and witness the festivities that followed. It is certainly an experience that I will treasure forever.

Godspeed Mr. Fossett, wherever you are.

Today is the one year “blogiversary” of A Pilot’s Blog in its current form. So, I’ve decided to create a little round-up of five of my favorite posts (not that I post all that often) from the past year.

Happy 7-8-7 Day (July 7, 2007)

Project Constellation (June 10, 2007)

Lunar Eclipse (March 3, 2007)

The Treadmill Problem Revisited (January 5, 2007)

The Treadmill Problem (December 12, 2006)

Apparently today is the First International Talk Like a Pilot day.

Jolly good!

This morning I was treated to a surprise gift from my father. In his usual Saturday morning yard sale excursion, he found an incredibly cool item. A 747 decanter! It appears to be ceramic, weighs a pound or two, and has a wonderful picture of a Boeing 747 in an old-style livery. The bottom is embossed with “Fieldbirds by A Singer - 1969″ and a small sticker on the back says “Bottled by the Dant Distillery Co. Louisville, KY - Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey - 4/5 Quart”. It has quickly earned a prominent spot on my shelf.

A company called 3-D Aviation has produced a wonderful animation showing what the soon to be debuted Boeing 787 might look like. The animations are extremely photo-realistic and very well done. I think you’ll enjoy it.

You can download it in both Windows Media and Quicktime formats right here.

Hat tip to Airliners.net for the video.

Supposedly Super Bowl XLI, which was held this past Sunday, had the 3rd largest television audience of any US telecast in history. There may have been a lot of people watching it on TV, but there were also a lot of people who flew in to watch the game in person via their own private jets. This ATC screen capture tells the tale:

Courtesy of No Silence Here.

A few weeks ago I saw a thread on Airliners.net alerting readers to a promotion by KLM giving away free luggage tags with several back-side pictures to choose from. The address fields didn’t seem to be made for international shipping, but I selected the 747 background, tried to fit my US address in as best I could, and hoped for the best.

Today…they arrived!

It was sent “EU Priority” and they printed “United Kingdom” in between my city/state and zipcode info (I’m sure it’s all automated), but it made it here anyways. Thanks KLM! You rock.

I’ve never really thought about it much before, but with jobs like this, being in the Civil Air Patrol would be a really interesting experience.

As his watch ticks toward midnight, Paul Gardella checks the oil on the small Cessna 182 parked on a cold, dark airstrip in Fairfax County. He knows what he soon could be facing: Coast Guard helicopters chasing him. F-16s intercepting him. Ground-to-air missiles tracking his every turn.

That’s because Gardella — a software engineer and former military officer — is taking on a new role.

Enemy of the U.S. government.

“In the Navy, I was on the other side. I was on the side of the ones that were shooting,” he muses.

Gardella, 50, is among a group of pilots who pose as nighttime intruders, penetrating restricted airspace over Washington in drills that take place every few weeks. While area residents slumber, the volunteers allow the U.S. military to practice intercepting them — or worse.

I’m sure only the most experienced and “senior” members get to do that sort of thing…but how awesome would that be?

Remember the "Treadmill Problem" that I posted about a few weeks ago? Another actual pilot has weighed in on it, and this time an actual physics professor was also involved! What they determined fairly close to my line of thinking, and the physics professor took it past the barrier of my lack of theoretical physics knowledge:

With the airplane and treadmill, there is, at the outset, friction force capable of rotating the tires at the proper speed to keep the plane stationary. However, as the thrust is increased, that force eventually maxes out. (Two separate frictions are at play here, actually, one between the tires and belt, the other between the plane’s axles/bearings and its wheels. The first will max out before the second.)

"And at that point the wheels no longer roll, they slide," says Camp. "Or rather, they roll and slide at the same time. Tire motion is now decoupled from the belt motion. No matter how much you whiz up the treadmill, you won’t add any more rotational velocity to the wheels because friction is already doing everything it is capable of. The plane skids toward takeoff — likely accompanied by much smoke and a powerful rubbery stink."

Of course, we are then left with the realization that it would be impossible for a normal airplane to generate this kind of thrust, not to mention no tires could stand up to it. But regardless, I’m glad this question can finally be put to rest!

Hat tip to BoingBoing for the link.

Related: The Treadmill Problem