According to dpb :
Chris Lewis wrote:
According to dpb :

The problem w/ this piece is managing to get it to fly straight for any
distance. Must've happened, but surely a fluke. I'd suspect in a
hundred tries however it got launched wouldn't do that again...

I've had occasions to watch the behaviour of long flexible objects in
air (don't ask ;-), they tend to "flap" unless flung perfectly straight,
but they'll eventually straighten out. The "stable" configuration
is usually falling flat (broadside to direction of travel), but before
it gets there it may progress through "spear" orientation several times ;-)

I suspect that with a bit of practise and adjustment for
distance and angle you can get it to do that a lot better than
once out of 100. But your accuracy would probably suck.

It seems highly unlikely that this didn't "just happen" from the
construction site. How, I've no real clue w/o being able to see it, but
if, as OP wrote it's something like 50-ft to the rear fence plus the
distance to a work area where it might have gotten launched by a table
saw, it's a real puzzle it would fly so straight so far imo. Your
rockets, spears, etc., are symmetric and designed specifically for
stability--this is none of the above. In wind-field incidents, there's
a continuing force that helps. One presumes this was simply launched
somehow. Again, strange things happen...

I don't think it necessarily flew straight at all. It merely
needed to be oriented the right way at impact. Besides, given how
much the trim probably weighed, it'd fly relatively straight at least
for a while.

Try launching a 2x4 with a bungie cord or some other way that
imparts energy along the long axis. I'll bet it'll go 50'
or more and stay relatively straight. Despite the fact that that
orientation is not stable. Broadside is.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.