Well, I would say it certainly is not.
The only way I can reconcile our different views is that we must be using “push” to mean different things.
I use it in the vernacular, to provide a force. That does not happen to an aircraft with a tailwind. I honestly think the use of that word causes a lot of confusion.
But I again apologize for my sloppy reading of the OP, and this derail. Maybe if we want to continue this dialog, it might be best to start a new thread.
Well, I assert that it most definitely is providing a force. Try this thought experiment. You are flying airplane which cruises at 90kts. The distance between your origination airport and destination airport is 180 nautical miles. Take three cases (neglect taxi time, takeoff and climb times for this exercise):
1. You have a 90 kt headwind. How long will it take you to reach the destination airport?
2. You have no wind. How long will it take you to reach the destination airport?
3. You have a 90 kt tailwind. How long will it take you to reach the destination airport?
In case 1 and 2, the wind is providing a force which is either adding to the thrust of the airplane to move you to your destination airport more quickly or preventing you from getting there at all. Its force most definitely IS pushing your plane, just not relative to the air. It is, however, providing a force which pushes you relative to the ground, and that force is real. Think of it this way, the total force moving you from point A to point B is the vector sum of the thrust of the plane and the force of the wind. The wind doesn't increase the AIRSPEED, but the force is real and increases or decreases the GROUNDSPEED. A physicist or engineer would certainly agree with me that the wind is providing a force.
I think you are using "push" to mean push relative to the air. And you're right, a steady state wind isn't pushing you relative to the air. I am using "push" in the sense that the wind is providing a force to the overall system where the frame of reference is the ground. It is definitely "pushing" you relative to the ground with a force. The wind energy input to the system is thermal and provided by the sun; the plane's energy input originates chemically in the gasoline and is then converted to heat and then mechanical via the engine (of course, since gasoline is a fossil fuel, its original energy input was also solar, just eons ago). It all depends upon one's choice of reference frame. You are choosing your reference frame as the air mass, I am choosing to use the broader frame of reference as the ground.
Another way to look at it is if you land at the destination airport with the landing direction the same as the route of flight with the same wind conditions. What will your ground speed be at touchdown if you must touchdown at 90kts indicated in each of the three cases? If the wind isn't pushing you, what is causing the difference in touchdown speeds?