Maximum Time Aloft (MTA) is a type of
boomerang competition
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, ind ...
involving specially engineered boomerangs. They are launched high, and enter a stable hover. In the official USBA
United States Boomerang Association competition throwers get five
throws
Throwing is an action which consists in accelerating a projectile and then releasing it so that it follows a ballistic trajectory, usually with the aim of impacting a remote target. This action is best characterized for animals with prehensile l ...
, and the times of the best
three attempts are scored. Normally, the catch must be made for the time to be counted. Internationally, the highest time from the five throws is the accepted means of scoring.
Currently the maximum time aloft for a boomerang throw that was successfully caught is 3 minutes and 49 seconds.
The MTA100 record that is more commonly competed (i.e. the throw and catch must be within the same 100
metre
The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its p ...
diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...
circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...
) is 1
minute
The minute is a unit of time usually equal to (the first sexagesimal fraction) of an hour, or 60 seconds. In the UTC time standard, a minute on rare occasions has 61 seconds, a consequence of leap seconds (there is a provision to insert a n ...
and 44.87
seconds, by Eric Darnell in Portland,
USA, on 21 September 1997.
Boomerang Associations
International Federation of Boomerang AssociationsBoomerang Association of AustraliaBritish Boomerang SocietyCanadian Boomerang Throwers AssociationUnited States Boomerang Association
References
Competitions
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