kazza474 wrote:

SusiGo wrote:

Oh, I am ashamed. Even a German like me could have remembered the boomerang. But I must admit, I still don't see the error. (five minutes later) Well, I now I've read something about boomerangs. There a returning and non-returning ones. Fine. Could it be that the boomerang shown in ASiB is a non-returning one?

The other thing I would say is those markings don't look very Aboriginal to me.

A friend brought me back from Australia a boomerang exactly like this (Chinese I'm sure).  But now I recovered it from the Hideous Presents Box and it's on display as Murder Weapon

Well in it's natural setting a boomerang is a hunting weapon, but there is nothing stopping a sportsman adapting it to his needs.
Plus, this is the movies!

Playing Boomerang is actually also a sport. I used to do it when I was in high school. Look it up in wikipedia, if you want to know more.

In general there are two types of boomerangs as already said.
Ones that can be thrown straight forward and through the rotation they are not droping down. Hunting boomerangs from old poland or australia are mostly from this type.
This ownes can probably kill an animal or human, more likely to knock it out.

The other owns that are used are returning boomerangs. I know the sports type of them.
They are fast, are returning, preatty easily if you build the right shape. Most of them are build for a 20m range, and a flight duration of maybe 3-5 seconds. And they are to light to hurt anybody seriously.

Nevertheless this boomerang for me don't look like it will return. The angle between the two wings is really to big.

koilid wrote:

The angle between the two wings is really to big.

The crucial factor in settling this question would focus on the steepness of the wing shape - I cannot really establish this though it is easy in unpainted boomerangs that reveal their layers, thus revealing their sharp angle on the wing tips. How does this determine flight characteristics?

I am quoting:
Whichever wing is at the top of the spin at any one time ends up moving in the same direction as the forward motion of the throw, while whichever wing is at the bottom of the spin is moving in the opposite direction of the throw. This means that while the wing at the top is spinning at the same speed as the wing at the bottom, it is actually moving through the air at a higher rate of speed.


AND


A boomerang is an aerodynamically shaped object designed to fly efficiently through the air when thrown by hand. The term usually refers to an object made to follow a circular flight path that returns it to the thrower. (Some sources describe all aerodynamic "throwing sticks" as boomerangs, separating them into "returning" and "nonreturning" categories.) Traditional designs are V-shaped, but newer versions may have irregular shapes or more than two arms.

Two design components give the boomerang the capability of circular flight. One is the arrangement of the arms, and the other is the airfoil profile shape that allows the arms into wings. During flight, the boomerang spins rapidly (about 10 revolutions per second). The wing profiles create the same lift effect that makes airplanes fly. In addition, the spinning motion creates gyroscopic precession, which pulls the boomerang into a circular path. A similar effect can be seen with a spinning top: if the top's axis is not quite vertical, the upper portion of the toy travels in a circle around the axis.

For a successful flight, the boomerang must also be thrown correctly. It should be held near the end of one wing with the top (curved) surface facing the thrower's body. The boomerang should be almost vertical, with the thrower holding the lowest arm. Depending on wind conditions and the design of the particular boomerang, the upper portion may be inclined up to 30° outward. After drawing the arm backward, the thrower hurls the boomerang with an overhand motion, much as a pitcher would throw a baseball. At the moment of release, the thrower adds a snap of the wrist, as if cracking a whip. The release angle should be between horizontal and 15° above. If there is any breeze, the boomerang must be thrown between 30° and 90° to the right of the on-coming wind (or to the left for a left-handed thrower; right-and left-handed boomerangs are mirror images of each other).

As the boomerang flies forward, it begins to slowly roll over (counterclockwise for a right-hander), ultimately flying horizontally with its flat side down. When it returns to the thrower, it is caught safely at chest height, trapping it between open hands in a sandwich fashion.

Recreational throwers simply enjoy playing a solitaire game of catch. Those who are interested in competition can choose from a variety of events, including precision (returning as close as possible to the launch point) and endurance (making the most catches in a five-minute period). The inter-national record for distance traveled before returning to the thrower is 780 ft (238 m), in a flight that lasted nearly 22 seconds. The record for maximum time aloft (MTA) is two minutes, 59.94 seconds; the unofficial MTA record, which was witnessed but not thrown in a sanctioned competition, is an astounding 17 minutes, six seconds.

Isn't it staggering the little details we focus on?

If we've agreed to believe that they always have good reception for the mobile phones and that John's wireless connection in the middle of nowhere allowed him an unfrozen HD video stream... then we can agree to belive that the boomerang returned 

Mary Me wrote:

Just came to my mind... that guy was a sportsman after all, would he settle for a typical boomerang sold to tourists? Maybe he got it from a friend who is also into sports... or I'm just missing something at the moment... pretty tired. *yawwn*

Almost all boomerangs are made for tourists these days.  Very few people actually use them for their intended purpose.

I have a bullroarer that my friends in Tasmania gave me as a present.  I've not used it yet.

Last edited by sj4iy (August 14, 2013 10:28 pm)

I don't think the writers were expecting viewers to be boomerang experts.
I believe it is supposed to be a proper boomerang.
It hit the guy cos he looked away, distracted by the car backfire.

Last edited by besleybean (April 15, 2014 7:28 pm)

I think when you are an 'expert' in anything be it through work or a hobby it can be very striking when some factual inaccuracies occour. I tend to suspend my disbelief and avoid going on and on about medical errors becouse my family and friends are not that intrested. I do sometimes need to bite my tongue though as my first instinct is to shout 'that's not the way to do it'.

Unfortunately the show has got so many details wrong, and it's so glaringly obvious that even non-experts notice them! Regarding the boomerang I've also just read that the ones that are heavy enough to kill don't come back (the little foam toys you can buy in Europe are not all that difficult to master and real fun, btw). And I think having WiFi out there is ridiculous - couldn't they have used the mobile phone network (assuming there's coverage out in the middle of nowwhere, but who knows, there might me a transmission tower just behind them ;) ).

Another problem: There ARE no Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers anymore - in 1968 they merged with three other regiments into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Yes, according to the "Study in Scarlet" Dr. John Watson was in the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers - but Mofftiss's John was in the Army in the 21st century...