posted Oct 11th, 2017 - NMP PCH HayaBusa's visit at the USPA Nationals 2017 turned out to be very successful, as the reigning 4-way indoor and outdoor world champions from Belgium finished in 1st place on the Open Class leaderboard and placed 2nd behind the Golden Knights in 8-way with the Fly-In Machine 44.

The 2nd place in 8-way with an 18.5 average was probably even more impressive than the 1st place in 4-way. HayaBusa was expected to outscore the two best U.S. 4-way teams, and the 12-point difference after the ten rounds in Perris was convincing enough to confirm the top spot in the world at this point in time.

The USPA Nationals 2017 was also another test event for HayaBusa. The NSL News mentioned earlier that the Belgians were not convinced whether they would take on double duties in 4-way and 8-way at the next World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Australia 2018 or not.

NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash had launched their Fly-In Machine 44 project this year, and the 8-way lineup attended three meets, including the FAI World Cup 2017, where 4-way and 8-way both took place at the same time and parallel with each other.

USPA Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		O,4,9	G,21,A,H	N,D,J,14	L,16,12	K,19,6	E,2,10	P,11,15	17,3,22	F,7,1	Q,5,M,20	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	31	33	28	23	25	23	23	22	31	31	270	27.0
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	32	29	22	24	22	21	23	29	29	258	25.8
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	31	28	23	22	20	23	19	28	29	252	25.2

USPA Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		G,22,1	9,6,2	D,7,17	8,J,C,K	Q,B,14,20	19,15,4	A,10,13	12,M,N,P	H,O,3,16	5,21,11	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	17	16	19	21	22	19	21	28	17	202	20.2
2	Fly-In Machine 44	BE	23	16	17	16	15	21	16	20	26	15	185	18.5
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	12	15	12	15	16	13	17	20	13	149	14.9

The situation was easier in Perris, where USPA was once again separating all events from each other. It is naturally much easier to participate in more than one event if teams don't have to switch back and forth between the different disciplines.

HayaBusa had won the FAI gold medals in Saarlouis, and the Fly-In Machine 44 did very well at the first outdoor competition with bronze medals for Belgium behind Golden Knights and Tanay. However, the evaluation of the HayaBusa situation after both events still came to the result that the 8-way project will be put to a rest for a year.

Belgium's national 4-way team and FAI world meet gold medalists of 2014 and 2016 first experienced the impressive progression and potential of the French national team, RealFly-Sion, in Saarlouis and then measured themselves up with the two best U.S. teams in Perris. The expected 4-way pressure coming from France and now Arizona Airspeed was probably the main factor for the Belgian decision.

NMP PCH HayaBusa's third consecutive FAI 4-way gold medals could be jeopardized with the double duties, and the potential medal position in 8-way would not compensate for a loss of the unique achievement in 4-way.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		22,F,20	16,B,14	3,H,4	L,K,7,C	10,D,6	15,A,Q,M	5,8,P	O,21,11	18,G,2	12,9,N	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	29	30	30	43	28	36	30	26	29	30	311	31.1
2	Black Cat	RU	21	26	27	34	23	39	28	27	26	30	281	28.1
3	FLY-IN	FR	24	26	21	37	23	35	24	23	23	26	262	26.2
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	23	24	25	33	23	35	28	23	21	25	260	26.0
5	Gryttjom Volo	SE	20	21	22	32	21	32	23	22	21	22	236	23.6
6	Bad Boys	CZ	19	20	23	32	21	31	23	23	20	22	234	23.4
7	Voodoo	UK	21	21	20	32	20	31	19	22	20	-	206	22.9
7	Dubai Asaar Black	AE	22	23	20	26	21	31	21	21	21	-	206	22.9
9	Tigers	FI	21	21	19	27	18	27	19	19	17	-	188	20.9
10	Jazz Republic	ZA	20	19	18	28	19	26	18	18	16	-	182	20.2
11	VAF Warriors	DK	19	17	18	25	16	28	20	20	-	-	163	20.4
12	Sky Dragons	SI	20	18	17	26	18	27	16	17	-	-	159	19.9
13	Magic 4	LT	19	17	15	26	17	25	18	19	-	-	156	19.5
14	Lupus	EE	15	19	18	26	17	27	15	15	-	-	152	19.0
15	Aladeen	HU	16	16	14	23	15	20	14	12	-	-	130	16.3
16	Murphy Mania	NL	13	9	12	17	11	18	12	12	-	-	104	13.0
17	HF Junior Zeleny	CZ	11	10	7	11	6	12	7	7	-	-	71	8.9
18	HF Junior Zluti	CZ	10	8	6	9	7	9	2	9	-	-	60	7.5

RealFly-Sion and Arizona Airspeed both now know that HayaBusa will focus all energy and resources on the 4-way event, while potential 8-way medal contenders might feel relieved to see that the Fly-In Machine 44 will not compete at the world meet next year.

The Belgians still have to deal with enough pressure, not only from France and the U.S.A. in 4-way. Indoor competition has officially become an FAI sanctioned event, and there are teams who focus mainly, or even exclusively, on wind tunnel meets.

HayaBusa is the reigning indoor world champion, as well, after winning the first event of this kind at the Hurricane Factory in Prague 2015. The NSL News has extensively covered the toughest challenger in this event, the Weembi High Rollers, with three French 4-way and 8-way world champions in the lineup and former HayaBusa member Roy Janssen.

Weembi has pushed HayaBusa to the limits every time the two teams have met this year, and the Belgians got away so far, last time with the smallest possible margin of a single point at the World Challenge 2017. The next showdown is coming up end of next week at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 in Montreal, and Airspeed is joining the battle of the two indoor giants. Weembi has focused only on indoor competition., whileHayaBusa had three weeks to switch from outdoor to indoor competition after the trips to Saarlouis and Perris. The NSL News will cover the event live from Montreal.