correct never considered a cross court drive so it is possible. Only one problem what speed does it need to be hit at for gravity to take next to no effect on the heavier (cork) part of the shuttle by the time it has covered over 9m? Faster than anyone could possible drive a shuttle would be my guess.
You also got better results when you used a wider skirt which would cause even more drag than the narrower one hence the cork go down more degrees, so the optimistic values may be less likely to achieve skirt first contact, anyhoo a lot more drag on feather over cork over 9m anyway you look at it to make this possible me thinks.
The speed required may well be beyond what a human can achieve. I'll go so far as to say that it is probably beyond the limit. However, until someone comes up with a credible analysis to indicate whether it is achievable (I have neither the time nor inclination), I will continue to believe that it is possible though unlikely. I am quite happy for other opinions to differ from mine. Can we all move on now?
I think it is in but can't say with full certainty as the picture quality is to poor. Surely with the line review technology for calls like this they just need a nice clear image of the point of contact. Then either write a program or do it with a protractor find the angle of the shuttle(draw a line centre of cork to centre of feathers. Test what angle represents what point on the cork then just draw a dot at that point on the image, Then remove shuttle image to see line fully and see where dot lies.
I would also like to say its IN! If the shuttlecock is clipping the line by only 1% it's IN. It depends too in how "soft is the floor" is I think! But you also have to look at where the Base of the Shuttlecock toches the floor for the FIRST TIME! Sometimes the shot is so flat that only the feathers touches the line or maybe hits the floor twice ...
