posted Nov 10th, 2016 - It was on September 14th when the Sun Path Products NSL News uploaded the last live NSL Talk with NMP PCH HayaBusa. The conversation took place in the middle of the FAI Mondial 2016 and before the Belgian national 4-way team won the second set of FAI gold medals.

HayaBusa moved on to win the next FAI gold medals a month later at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016 at Flyspot in Poland, which concluded the 2016 competition season.

However, the Belgians did not rest for too long after the last competition. Another month later it was time to begin with the first preparations for the 2017 season with a training camp in Empuriabrava in Spain. All four current HayaBusa members took some extra time after Thursday's training jumps to answer a few questions of the Sun Path Products NSL News. As usual, HayaBusa had very interesting news to share with the SKYLEAGUE.COM online audience.

The 4-way world champions had explained earlier that they begin each new training season with work on improving the individual flying skills and 4-way specific techniques. It is hard to imagine that the 2-time world champions of 2014 and 2016 still feel like improving their individual skills.

They made it very clear that their training always begins from scratch and with the very basics. Together with coach Gary Smith, they break apart the block techniques, as well, and try to improve the work of the pieces as much as possible.

HayaBusa seems to make sure that it will not become too easy for any challengers to catch up with the indoor and outdoor world champions. However, maintaining the top spot in 4-way does not seem to be enough for HayaBusa any longer, and there are additional goals and projects.

Clash of Champions 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		L,F,C,7	5,6,19	2,9,3	G,A,12,10	B,11,22	16,1,21	K,M,18,P	E,O,J,8	Q,17,15	N,H,4,D	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	34	26	30	30	37	34	35	25	31	42	324	32.4
2	France Weembi	FR	29	22	25	26	30	30	28	27	28	34	279	27.9
3	Tanay	RU	29	22	20	22	31	30	27	23	25	38	267	26.7
4	Thund8rbirds	BE	24	23	22	22	21	28	28	23	24	35	250	25.0
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	24	19	20	21	25	24	20	19	23	26	221	22.1
6	Dubai Asaar	AE	21	19	19	19	20	23	22	19	21	26	209	20.9
7	Monaco Vitalsea	MC	7	13	16	14	13	11	17	18	17	22	148	14.8

The Sun Path Products NSL News has brought the Thund8rbirds 8-way project to the attention of the audience a few times since NMP PCH HayaBusa and Thunder ISR launched it in 2015. The Thund8rbirds with their Belgian/Dutch lineup attended two meets and made some training jumps, as well.

The first HayaBusa 8-way experiences were obviously enough fun and promising, as the team plans to increase the efforts. The HayaBusa 4-way members also explained that the 8-way lineup will have some changes and compete for Belgian in the future. Original HayaBusa member and current 4-way alternate Sven Ibens will lead the 8-way project.

The world's small 8-way leaderboard could be shaken up once HayaBusa takes the competition more seriously. The Thund8rbirds were already dangerously close to the Russian bronze medalists from Tanay at the Clash of Champions 2015, and the Belgians will probably have a medal position in their minds down the 8-way road...