posted Dec 30th, 2016 - The end of the 2016 season was also the end of the Thunder project, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported in earlier updates. Thunder ISR remains in the 4-way records as the best unofficial amateur team in the history of the sport.

The four Thunder members (Wesley Claessens, Paul Hofstee, Sven Ibens, Jacco van Eerden, with Grim Swinnen on camera) were also the second half of the Thund8rbirds, the joint 8-way project with the complete NMP PCH HayaBusa lineup. The Thund8rbirds recently competed at the Weembi 8-way competition, which was the last meet for the 8-way team, as well.

Thunder and Thund8rbirds did not terminate their team projects due to burn-out factors or similar symptoms. The biggest obstacle in the team's 8-year history has been the fact that the lineup consisted of two team members from Belgium (Wesley Claessens, Sven Ibens) and two from the Netherlands (Paul Hofstee, Jacco van Eerden). Thunder was not eligible for any FAI/IPC events, such as world meets and world cups.

ISR Grand Prix 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		A,17,9	12,P,L,18	C,B,O,11	14,21,M	6,K,D,E	N,3,J,D	22,16,F	7,Q,H,2	Total	Avg
1	Thunder ISR	BE	35	23	33	25	33	28	26	31	234	29.3

Weembi December 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		5,K,B,18	H,N,6,11	P,A,22,O	19,2,E	17,9,G	10,3,L	J,F,12,4	21,13,Q	C,M,1,8	Total	Avg
1	Fly In Thund8rbirds	BE	27	29	27	23	25	31	36	24	22	244	27.1

After the three meets with the Thund8rbirds and the next 4-way gold medals at the FAI Mondial 2016 NMP PCH HayaBusa was ready to add 8-way training and competition to the team's agenda. The new HayaBusa 8-way team is planning to compete for Belgium at the FAI/IPC events, which requires a lineup with only Belgian competitors.

Six of the Thund8rbirds members are eligible to compete for Belgium, and the team had to add two new Belgian competitors to the 8-way lineup when Paul Hofstee and Jacco van Eerden accepted the Belgian plans for the future.

The name of the new Belgian 8-way team is "Fly-In Machine 44" and the selection for the two open slots has been completed. Maya Van Campenhout, who has trained and competed with the Belgian national team in 4-way Women, Les Stunts, in the past years, and Glenn Cuylaerts are the two new members.

Sven Ibens, original HayaBusa member himself, said that Maya Van Campenhout and Glenn Cuylaerts are rather new to the sport with five and six years in the sport, and that his team is glad that they have accepted the invitation.

Fly-In Machine 44 team will be training in Empuriabrava and in the FlyIn wind tunnel in Liege, Belgium. The 8-way team plans to make 150 jumps and complete approx. 15 hours of indoor training in 2017. Fly-In Machine 44 also has high-level competitions in the team calendar, including the French Indoor Nationals at Weembi, the FAI World Cup in Saarlouis and the USPA Nationals in Perris.

The new Belgian 8-way team plans to lift the 8-way level in Belgium to new standards, just as NMP PCH HayaBusa has done it consistently in 4-way since Belgium's 8th place at the FAI World Meet 2003. Goal is the 20-average level at the next world meet in 2018.

Belgian 8-way teams have randomly attended FAI Word Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985. The best placement was a 6th place in 2008, which came with the best average of 13.1 in Maubeuge, France, right next to the Belgian border.

Sven Ibens and his HayaBusa team mates would like to put Belgium back on the 8-way world map, and a 20+ average in 2018 will surely take care of that goal. However, the 2017 season will first be a test period to find out if HayaBusa's 4-way performance will suffer with the additional 8-way duties. The next 4-way gold medals are still the primary goal.

Sven Ibens and Wesley Claessens will also train and compete in 4-way with Maya Van Campenhout and Glenn Cuylaerts. The Sun Path Products NSL News will introduce "Fire Flash" and the team plans soon. There is also a new 4-way project in the works in the Netherlands with similar goals...