Why can't you get it through your head that the plane has to be accelerated to 9.8m/s2 to match the earths? Air doesn't have to be solid to accelerate objects. The thread you missed, I bought up indoor skydiving. People are "accelerated" at 9.8m/s2 to counter act gravitation.
So Im going to ask again, how can a plane reach terminal velocity if the earth is accelerating towards it?
Dude you are re******? By the same way you reach terminal veolocity in a vertical wind tunnel - air is pushed upwards by Earth (like a piston) so at some point the plane will reach 9.81 m/s2 BUT at a latter momment than the Earth (air will take a while to get the plane there), so it will be a difference in their speeds (terminal velocity) that will allow Earth to catch up the plane. I guess you cannot follow simple math equations because you keep asking the same dumb question - that was answered already by those equations.
Go to school, learn about derivative of a function and come back...
Well, this one is interesting... It looks like I have to agree with both of you, but I have to give sokarul the higher score for accuracy.
You two are arguing about events from two different prespectives. Please note that I did not say two different FoRs! sokarul has chosen the FoR of an observer not on the FE and not accelerated by the UA. SoNic has chosen the perspective (not the FoR!) of an accelerated observer on the FE.
sokarul points out the plane does not reach terminal velocity in the FE model. The UA pushing on the FE pushing on the atmosphere manages to accelerate the plane at 1g so that the FE closes in on on the plane at terminal velocity--but the plane is not traveling at terminal velocity. This is correct. I would have preferred the sokarul have been clear about his choice of FoR though to his credit I believe his choice worthy.
SoNic points out the plane will appear to reach terminal velocity for the perspective of the FE observer, or an observer in the plane who considers the FE as a fix point of reference. This is correct. However, SoNic should realize that the FE as accelerated cannot be used as a valid FoR. There is a technique, well established and useful, that uses a set of accelerated FoRs to express his (or her) point. If SoNic had been clear that using that technique, I believe this debate would have been more to the point.