1. You are in a hurricane and the wind is blowing in exactly the correct direction and speed to achieve lift off . . . plausible but unlikely!

Presto’s Reply:

Of course there is no hurricane. There is also no Vertical Jet Engine and there is no Giant Compressed Spring.

Then Dimitrios wrote:

2. The airplane can accelerate faster that the treadmill is going to achieve liftoff speed. Very likely for most planes.

Presto replied:

In fact it is a certainty for all airplanes. You sound like you are still laboring under the idea that the plane has to “overcome” the speed of belt. It doesn’t. The belt has almost ZERO effect on the plane. Because a plane pulls itself throught the AIR and the wheels just spin however fast they have to. The pilot not be able to feel any effect from the belt. The increase in friction from the spinning belt is tiny.

I hope you will post again.

However its all in the wording of the question, the question most people ask is: Can a plane take off if on a treadmill that is going the opposite way and at the same speed as the plane? As long as the plane is not in a hurricane, then NO it cannot achieve liftoff.
Mythbusters changed the question because it is obvious that there is nothing to try to bust if they left the question as it is most commonly asked.

The airplane doesn’t care how fast the ground under it is moving. The aircaft can be stationary and fly just fine. If the wind is blowing at 50 knots, the plane can fly with zero ground speed.

We are such terrestrial animals that we do not easily separate ourselves from this environment.

Presto is quite correct that if you run the treadmill at 50 knots, the aircaft wheel speed will be 100 knots when it rotates at 50 knots airspeed, assuming no wind. The plane takes off. No question. No discussion.

No one ever argues about the fact that if you hold the airspeed to zero, the plane won’t fly. No crap. You have any other obvious claims?

I think talkinb about the plane moving backward with the treadmill is an unneeded complication.

It is reasonable to assume that the plane and the treadmill moving at the same time and the plane never moves backward.

It’s not that you are wrong. I just think it only adds to the confusion to assume the treadmill srarts first and drags the airplane backward for a while.

Thanks for your support.

Another way to look at it is to consider the situation from the frame of reference of the plane on the treadmill. Imagine yourself standing on the treadmill so the plane is motionless in relation to you. Wouldn’t you agree that the plane can take off?