The Tread mill experiment does not constitute perpetual motion since an electric motor powers the tread mill.
There is another example of a small force generating a large lifting force with propeller and it's called the Autogyro. A smaller propeller pushes the aircraft through the air. The air drives the much larger top propeller with enough speed to keep the aircraft airborne. I know this is not the same problem since the autogyro has an engine, but still the main lifting force is not engine driven. I often underestimate the power of properly designed airfoil.

As for a mechanical engineer not being a scientists, that a new one to me. Weather and climate is all about thermodynamics and fluid dynamics period. And among all disciplines, mechanical engineers study both with heavy emphasis on thermodynamics. Heck, that was half of my graduate courses! Thermodynamics is often considered as a weed-out course, as many can't handle it and change majors or dropout of engineering after the first course.