Mike,
Care to comment on my Coffee cup?
You continue to insist kinetic energy is ONLY relative to the Earths surface.
The Earths surface is a very small piece of the universe where, I believe, universal laws of physics still apply.
And how about my Goldfish? You seem to br selectively ignoring arguments which clearly dis-prove your case.
Don't believe I'M saying this but, yes, Johm Farley is wrong on this occasion.
You were also pretty selective in your googling. I've just done the same and come up with a myriad of articles de-bunking the myth-
Heres a few-
http://www.x-plane.com/myths.html
http://www.aeroexperiments.org/brainteasers.shtml
http://www.djaerotech.com/dj_askjd/d.../downwind.html
Can you also answer me this? If the effect is small in the light winds at the surface, it must be proportionally greater in strong winds. Iv'e been in holding patterns in 120kt winds and, guess what? turning downwind the aircraft did no fall out of the sky.