posted Nov 16th, 2017 - The new website design of the world's air sports federation (FAI - Federation Aeronautique Internationale) also disclosed once again the latest world rankings in the Formation Skydiving disciplines.

The current rankings have the end of the 2016 season as the defining point in time. FAI is ranking the nations and not specific teams, and the algorithm considers the results of the respective national teams at the last four FAI events. The world cups in 2013 and 2015 and the world meets in 2014 and 2016 account for the 2016 rankings.

The FAI rankings are based on the placements at these events, which are determined by the meet averages. The actual scoring numbers are not relevant for this ranking system.

Not much has changed since the previously published FAI rankings of 2015. In fact, the Top 10 nations are exactly in the same order as they were before. The U.S.A. moved up from the 15th place in 2015 to 11th and is still missing the Top 10. Main reason for this situation are the FAI world cups in 2013 and 2015 without any U.S. teams. The two sets of Airspeed silver medals at the world meets in 2014 and 2016 could not compensate for the missed meets.

4-way Open Class 2016 world rankings of the FAI - Federation Aeronautique Internationale

The SKYLEAGUE.COM world rankings are based on team performances in only one year, and the NSL News used the opportunity of the latest FAI world rankings to evaluate the situation

Rank	Team		Averages	Best 3
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24.8 - 26.2	25.5
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	24.3 - 25.4 - 26.5	25.4
3	France 4-way Open	FR	23.7 - 23.4 - 23.8	23.6
4	Black Cat	RU	23.1 - 21.6	22.4
4	Golden Knights	US	22.4	22.4
6	Golden Knights Gold	US	22.3	22.3
7	Qatar Tigers	QA	21.5 - 22.6	22.1
7	France Women	FR	22.1 - 22.6 - 21.7	22.1
7	SDC Rhythm XP	US	20.4 - 23.8	22.1
10	Evolution	CA	21.4	21.4

at the same point in time, the end of the 2016 season.

The Top 10 teams at the end of the 2016 season were not all from different countries, and they were also a mixture of the two FAI related 4-way categories, 4-way Open and 4-way Women. Golden Knights and French Weembi Girls both made the Top 10, and the ten teams are from only six different nations.

FAI and SKYLEAGUE.COM rankings become much more similar after removing the 4-way Women teams from the combined Top 10 rankings and including only each nation's best 4-way Open Class team.

Now the Top 3 rankings are almost identical, as NMP PCH HayaBusa (Belgium), RealFly-Sion (France) and Black Cat (Russia) are in the same order on both sides. Only Arizona Airspeed is in a very different spot for the U.S.A.

Great Britain (Satori XL), Italy (eX3MO) and Germany (Airbus) are also in the Top 10 of both rankings, even though they appear in different

Rank	Team		Averages	Best 3
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24.8 - 26.2	25.5
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	24.3 - 25.4 - 26.5	25.4
3	France 4-way Open	FR	23.7 - 23.4 - 23.8	23.6
4	Black Cat	RU	23.1 - 21.6	22.4
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	21.5 - 22.6	22.1
6	Evolution	CA	21.4	21.4
7	Satori XL	UK	20.2 - 20.3 - 20.4 - 21.0	20.6
8	Airbus Illertissen	DE	20.8 - 19.4 - 19.9	20.0
9	Gryttjom Volo	SE	18.1	18.1
10	eX3MO	IT	18.4 - 17.4	17.9

orders.

The differences in the two rankings are coming with four other national teams that are not in the FAI Top 10. The Qatar Tigers were in 5th place of all 4-way Open Class teams, which was also their final position at the FAI Mondial 2016. In fact, the results of the world championships are mirroring the SKYLEAGUE.COM rankings from the 1st to the 8th place.

Canada's national team Evolution is ahead of Great Britain and the country's 4th place in the FAI rankings, while Evolution and Satori XL are in the same finishing positions as in Ottawa. Germany is in 8th place with the FAI, and the national team Airbus is in the same slot at SKYLEAGUE.COM after the 8th place at the world meet.

Only NMP PCH HayaBusa for Belgium and Airbus for Germany are in the same ranking positions on all three leaderboards (FAI - SKYLEAGUE.COM - Mondial 2016).

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24	25	35	26	19	22	27	39	23	22	262	26.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	23	31	26	18	22	27	40	23	23	254	25.4
3	France	FR	21	20	30	21	18	21	27	39	21	20	238	23.8
4	Black Cat	RU	22	20	30	24	17	21	24	33	21	19	231	23.1
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	20	30	24	17	20	23	36	17	18	226	22.6
6	Evolution	CA	20	18	29	24	16	18	23	32	18	16	214	21.4
7	Satori XL	UK	18	19	27	24	16	18	22	30	18	18	210	21.0
8	Airbus	DE	16	18	29	19	15	18	22	29	14	19	199	19.9
9	Savolo	ZA	15	15	25	19	14	15	16	28	17	15	179	17.9
10	Final Fire	AT	16	15	25	17	12	16	18	29	17	13	178	17.8