posted Dec 26th, 2014 - The Sun Path Products NSL News reported on 18 December 2014 that the Dutch 4-way champion and national team has made plans for two years of double duties, in 4-way with M4trix and in 8-way with M8trix.

It's not only the Dutch team that will most likely represent the Netherlands in both events. It seems like Germany has a very similar situation, probably just on a higher scoring level. Airbus Munchen won the German Nationals 2014 without any serious competition, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on 19 November 2014, and the complete lineup (Olaf Biedermann, Goran Meyer, Thomas Mack, Christian Schafer) also walked away with the German 8-way title.

Airbus alternate Thomas Spielvogel, former Paratec-Saar member Dieter Schwarz, 4-way coach Solly Williams, Uli Sehrbrock and Dieter Kirsch completed the 8-way lineup, and Alexander "Dude" Hau was filming the tream at the national championships. The German rules allow one foreign competitor to be a part of the team and win medals.

Sep 2nd, 2014		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	16,A,12	F,20,13	19,G,1	3,L,O,2	P,8,18	Total	Avg
1	Airbus (DE)	20	18	19	22	17	96	19.2
2	AtomiX (DE)	14	14	15	14	12	69	13.8
3	Chicas (DE)	13	13	14	13	13	66	13.2

German Nationals 2014		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	16,A,12	F,20,13	19,G,1	3,L,O,2	P,8,18	Total	Avg
1	Airbus Munchen (DE)	16	14	14	14	12	70	14.0
2	Sudwest (DE)	13	11	11	11	11	57	11.4
3	Wolf Pack NeVa (DE)	7	7	5	5	6	30	6.0

The 8-way team had just as little competition as it was in 4-way. Team Sudwest took once again the 2nd place with a double-digit average but was no serious threat.

The 2014 championships were not the qualification event for the World Meet 2016. The winners of next year's national championships will compete at Skydive Chicago in two years. However, Airbus members mentioned that they were planning to recruit a strong 8-way lineup for next year, as well.

Airbus will continue to focus on the 4-way event while maintaining the dominating position in German 8-way competition. Airbus/EADS has won the 8-way title every year since 2004, most of the times together with the 4-way rival, Paratec-Saar. The Airbus 4-way team is one of the best unofficial amateur teams in the world, and the 8-way lineup will be very competitive, as well.

World Meet 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open Class	E,3,C,5	F,G,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights (US)	24	22	15	26	22	21	19	26	21	20	216	21.6
2	Barkli (RU)	19	18	13	25	14	16	16	19	18	13	191	17.4
3	Venturi (FR)	19	16	14	23	18	13	18	19	15	16	190	17.3
4	Microclim8 (UK)	14	14	11	15	12	13	12	15	12	13	131	13.1
5	M8Trix (NL)	15	13	11	17	11	13	13	15	10	12	130	13.0
6	Australia (AU)	12	13	11	18	11	12	12	12	10	12	123	12.3

Neither the Airbus 4-way nor the 8-way lineup competed at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving this year. Paratec-Saar was the German national team after winning the 2013 championships, and no German 8-way team traveled to Prostejov.

It was a missed opportunity, as the Airbus scoring level was high enough to place 4th at the world meet. Germany's 8-way team had finished in 4th place at the Mondial Dubai 2012 and would probably have been able to defend this place successfully in Prostejov.

The medal positions were too far away at both events, however, there are bronze medal opportunities here and there, as eX3MO's 8-way lineup showed it in 2008. Germany would be one of the 8-way candidates if the next opportunity came up in 2016 - and if the Airbus focus were on the other event...