The poetic flourish in the title might tempt one to think that this post is going to be a self composed poem. You couldn't get farther from the truth.
Central to this post is the question - "What is common between and airplane and a push cart?"
The answer to that question is although blatantly simple, but hidden. Now, I read somewhere that there is no such thing as a stupid question. But this one certainly stretches the saying to the limit doesn't it?
After all, what can be common between a contraption that moves on the ground at 15mph have in common with even the most ancient of aircraft? Listing out their points of differences would have been simple to the point of being simply pointless. But I, stick my neck out in fact, and say that an airplane is a push cart. How?
The airplane when on ground is maneuvering under its on power, and by that I mean not being towed or pushed back, is in fact not "driven" by its wheels. Contrary to what might seem obvious, the wheels of an airplane do not have a transmission! Yes, they don't!
The airplane is simply being pushed by the thrust that its engines produce. And that is exactly what causes the wheels to roll along. Seems intriguing, that a tried and tested method and taken-for-granted method of delivering power to the wheels has been omitted in a state-of-the-art machine, doesn't it? It is all for the sake of keeping it simple. Because these birds are meant to fly in the sky and not crawl on the ground. And in the sky, you don't need wheels.
Hence, I hope you agree with me when I say that an airplane is a cart on the ground. Let them be birds in the sky.
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