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Hi Rich.
No corection needed...... welllllll....... perhaps a little.....
"I think the original myth was just that an airplane cannot take off from a runway moving backwards."
Of COURSE it can! Just go and see an Aircraft carrier!
Usually, the carier moves forward INTO the wind to make it easier to take off...... however. But.... if you placed USS Nimitz so it was steaming DOWNwind at 40 knots (compared to the sea), with a tail wind of 40 knots, then the air would be nominally 0 knots compared to landing deck. Now take a light aircraft (e.g, Pitts Special) and place it on the NOSE of the Nimitz. That plane, under it's own power,. could EASILY attain take-off speed (nominally, 57 knots) running from the FRONT of the carier to the REAR. The 'runway' on Nimitz is COLLOSAL!!!
Similarly, running Nimitz FLAT OUT in reverse but connecting the catapult (Cat.) to the Pitts Special....... so long as the plane wasn't torn to shreads.... it would achive take off speed in about 10ft...... that Cat. on the Nititz is quite.......err.... powerful!
On both those cases, the 'runway' would be going 'backward' by any normal meaning of that word.
Basically, people have let themselves be confused by the rotation of the wheels, thinking that somehow, the plane CARES about the wheels or the runway! Place the Pitts Special on the Nimitz attached to the Cat....... BOLT the wheels locked-solid and THEN fire the Cat.! Let's see if the aircraft CARES about the wheels!
(The story always goes that, if you connected a VW Beetle to Nimitz's Cat. and fired it FULL power, it would 'land' 16 miles away!!!!!)
Planes don't care about the 'runway'..... they only care about the AIR!
Ian
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