I missed the show. I would like to hear a synopsis of what happened. If they used an RC car driven by wheels, it only supports my thoughts of missedbusters.

Mutt, they showed an RC car staying in perfect pace with the treadmill and then turned it off and let it freewheel. Then they push the RC car with their hand and it moved forward. That was a teeny tiny part of the episode, and it was done to try to illustrate to people that the drive thrust of an aiplane is not the wheels. It's the thrust washer of the propeller.

So in short, the little remote control plane they used first, took off easily.

Then they went to an airport and got a guy with an Ultralight plane that could take off in 85 feet. The pilot thought he'd sit still on the conveyor! (remind me to not have him as my pilot!). Their "converyoer belt" was a large strip of tarp that they pulled the opposite direction with a Toyota pickup. The truck took off, the plane revved up and moved in the oppostie direction and became airborne off the conveyor belt. Myth BUSTED! (the myth was it wouldn't move or take off)
The only thing they didn't show was how much longer, if at all it took the plane to acheive flight. But that wasn't the point.

Thanks, Billy. Sounds like they were on track with that one, not that they need or should heed my help. I'm kind of bummed I missed the episode. But Military Channel was doing the 10 best Bombers of all times and i wanted to see where the B-1 came in. Didn't make the top 10, I should have watched the MB. Maybe MB should have used a B-1 in thier experiment. i wonder what would be left of the Toyota?

and it only took 19 pages of posts for us to get a definitive answer. imagine if it was never tested on tv. thank you, myth busters, for allowing us to get back to what's really important..........determining if monty is gonna give away a goat or a car.

A few clips courtesy of YouTube for those w/o Tivo that missed it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=S377HwOthjo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0ul_5DtMLhc&feature=user

Do a YouTube search for: mythbusters conveyor ...and you will get other versions. I saw one for the RC plane tests but lost it, a lot of them aren't as nice quality as the 2 links above.

BTW, as a side note the cockroaches will not inherit the earth in the event of a nuclear war...some may survive but the Flour Beetle will kick @@@! (it was the other show segment)

WM, there was talk at the end about "next time maybe we can super size it w/ a jet!"...so maybe! Thanks for the heads up on the show airing Just Bob.

Of course this doesn't settle question interpretation and wording issues, etc....but I think this is how most interpreted the question. Like BillyB wrote, the fact that the pilot even thought his plane would sit still is telling.

I think they just need a faster conveyor belt...

In case anyone wants to see it, I have video of a plane on a conveyer belt. Mythbuster exhibit at pur local science museum.

If speed of conveyor is unlimited it will eventually approach the speed of light. The plane will fly, but not in three dimensional space, but in time. Congratulations board, you have developed the first theoretical time machine.