Boomerang engineer
|
|
Boomerang.jpg
A boomerang engineer is a person who designs intricate versions of boomerangs, the throwing stick used by Australian aboriginals 15,000 years ago, are composed of two or more wings, or arms. These wings are airfoil shapes and as such are subject to a fairly well-known set of aerodynamic forces and effects.
According to aerospace engineer Rusty Harding, aka "The Boomerang Engineer", there are more aerodynamic variables involved in one flight of one boomerang than there were in a flight to the moon and back.
A boomerang engineer's task, then, is to manipulate and juggle these variables to produce new flying objects, with short flights, long flights, high flights, unusually-shaped flights and more. Because several of the forces acting on a boomerang have effectively infinite variations, boomerangs can take on an infinity of shapes, sizes, and flight patterns.
Returning boomerangs have been produced, for instance, in the shape of every letter of the alphabet, in the shape of many animals, as Uncle Sam, a Swiss Army knife, Native American tomahawk... the list is probably endless.
The sport of boomeranging requires various types of flight patterns for different events, ranging from the 'fast catch' event - which requires a middle-distance boomerang with an almost circular orbit and fast return flight, (well under 6 seconds), to the 'MTA' (maximum time aloft) which is extremely light and asymmetrical, is thrown almost straight upward, fluttering back to earth slowly, staying aloft for several minutes, if successfully thrown.
Without boomerang engineering, a boomerang would just be a "stick" - the boomerang engineer's term for a boomerang that needs adjustment to its aerodynamic design...from the familiar riddle: "What do you call a boomerang that won't come back?"