In your beloved R/C experiment, you continue to use the appendage attached to the treadmill as the prime mover. Of course, if the plane is propelled by the object that is in contact with the treadmill, there will be no take off speed. However, if the prime mover (read the propeller) is not coupled to the tread mill in any way, it doesn't have to overpower the treadmill, because all it is doing is sitting on it. In your R\C example, the aircraft is mercilessly bound to the treadmill by your iron grip, therefore it is not the same situation as the frictionless bearing condition.

I don't need 400 pages. I see that my madness is perfectly clear... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

Why can't you see through the beer goggles??? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />