posted Jun 13th, 2019 - The recent breaking news from Belgium was related to the lineup change of NMP PCH HayaBusa. The story was posted on June 3rd, and it included the NSL Live Talk video with the team and new member Michele Silvi.

It took only little over one week until HayaBusa's toughest opponent, Arizona Airspeed, now followed up with their own breaking news. It is a surprising change though, and it has a different background.

HayaBusa's change is a part of a long-term plan, and the actual change is coming after the FAI World Meet 2020, where the current lineup with original team member David Grauwels first want to make history by winning three consecutive FAI 4-way outdoor gold medals with exactly the same lineup.

Arizona Airspeed first need a short-term solution after Ari Perelman decided last week to leave the team. Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine took the time for a new NSL Live Talk and explain the most recent developments at the Arizona Airspeed headquarters in Eloy.

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Ari Perelman was the newest Airspeed member who joined the team when Thomas Hughes left at the end of the 2016 season. Airspeed had finished in 2nd place behind NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI World Meet 2016 with an 8-point difference (254 -262).

The new Airspeed lineup, with Ari Perelman in the point slot, had less than a year to get ready for the next USPA Nationals, which would be the qualifier for the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia. SDC Rhythm XP was in the team's third year with the same lineup and would be a very serious threat in 2017.

The new lineup was actually behind Rhythm at the team's first meet, the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2017. However, Airspeed's new team closed the gap quickly and left Rhythm already behind a few weeks later at the Shamrock Showdown 2017. Rhythm was still closer than ever before at the USPA Nationals 2017, while Airspeed won again after a challenging competition season.

The second year with Ari Perelman continued with good progression, and result was a very close finish at the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia, only two points behind NMP PCH HayaBusa with the 3rd highest outdoor average in history.

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FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	-5	21		27	-1	24		24	-1	60	-1	26		22		27		20		277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	-1	19		24	-2	23		24		52	-3	20	-3	17	-3	24		19		251	25.1

Arizona Airspeed's scoring progression with the lineups between 2007 and 2019

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The progression did not continue any longer at the first four indoor meets this year that Airspeed attended, and the Belgian indoor and outdoor world champions began to pull away at the three meets where both teams competed. Ari Perelman's decision then came not too long after the start of the outdoor training.

Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markin explained that they began to look for a new team member right away. Timing was critical, as there is not much time until the USPA Nationals 2019, which will be the qualification event for the next FAI World Meet in Tanay 2020.

They said that former Airspeed world champions Josh Hall and Mark Kirkby were the top candidates to step in quickly and for the remainder of the 2019 season. Both were not available, and former Golden Knights member Matt Davidson was the third candidate on the Airspeed list.

The NSL News mentioned earlier that Matt Davidson would leave the Golden Knights this year and had his last competition with the 8-way team at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship. He is probably even more experienced in Formation Skydiving competition than Airspeed captain Niklas Hemlin and has performed on world class level in both events. He agreed to train and compete with Airspeed throughout the 2019 season, and new plans were made until the completion of the FAI World Cup 2019. The NSL News will follow up with more information.