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Plane on a treadmill

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The Ston:
A plane is standing on a runway that can move (like a giant conveyor
belt). This conveyor has a control system that tracks the plane's
speed and tunes the speed of the conveyor to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction).

Will the plane be able to take off?

 

Dean:
Of course!  A plane's power is not applied to the ground through the wheels, but to the air behind it.

The Ston:
I'm still thinking about this.

At first I thought not, then I thought that it would be able to, with the wheel speed being twice the forward speed of the airplane BUT the wheel speed has to equal the ground (i.e. treadmill speed) if you consider that the wheels don't slip...er...

*brain a'splode*

I think I need a beer now!  

pauly75:
But if the plane is stationary, there would be no air moving over the wings to create the lift required to get it airborn.

The Ston:
Ineed, that's the crux of the matter.  

Even if the treadmill is driven (backwards) at a speed which matches/tries to match the forward speed of the plane, can the plane acheive forward motion, thereby generating air speed over its wings->lift->takeoff ?

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