You Can't Break The Laws of Physics

I remember reading this a couple of years ago, and being entertained both by the question itself and the heated debate about the right answer.

Here's the original problem essentially as it was posed to us: "A plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?"

http://www.kottke.org/06/02/plane-conveyor-belt

This debate has been crackling along for so long that Mythbusters decided to tackle it on the air last night. Tested first with a model airplane, and then with an ultralight. I watched it this morning, and then hopped over to Kottke to read his recap (spoiler alert). Once again, the comments provide much entertainment.