747 on a treadmill conundrum..

[SteelCurtain]

I think you're struggling for an interpretation that makes sense of nonsense. You're over-interpreting.

The question is simply badly worded. So badly worded that it yields two contradictory conclusions, both of which are consistent with the wording of the question. One which relies on a literal interpretation of the phrase about the conveyor belt, the other of which relies upon trying to interpret what the author meant, ignoring the literal implication of what was actually said.

The problem is that the literal interpretation defines something that is not in line with physics. The treadmill is not going to appreciably effect the airplane's ability to move forward, because the wheels have a nominal effect on this ability. If you interpret the question such that the treadmill somehow makes the plane stationary, then the treadmill itself is not germane at all. Why not ask, "can a 747 take off from a standstill?"

The interpretation that the "ground" is moving at a velocity in precisely the opposite direction with the exact opposite magnitude as the plane's velocity is the only one that makes sense in terms of a thought experiment.