posted Mar 14th, 2020 - The Formation Skydiving competition world is eventually suffering similar damage as the rest of the world, due to the corona virus. Skydiving centers with jump planes and wind tunnels with flying chambers are still mostly in operation across the planet, while more and more events are being canceled or postponed due to travel restrictions and emergency regulations.

The NSL News reported yesterday that the French delegation had to terminate their training camp at Skydive DeLand leading into the Shamrock Showdown and travel back to France. A day later, the Qatar delegation received the same orders from their headquarters. Tigers and Falcons are leaving Florida this weekend.

Last and not least, the Golden Knights are now facing travel restrictions by the U.S. Army that do not allow the teams to make the trip to Florida. The Shamrock Showdown, which was promising a historic 8-way and world-class 4-way competition, will not take place this year. The World Challenge at Twinwood Adventures in Bedford and the FAI Indoor World Cup in Charleroi are canceled, as well, and the 2020 competition season has a false start. The German Indoor Nationals were supposed to be in full swing in Berlin at this time, and the event was canceled, as well.

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Fly Challenge 2020			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		C,D,Q,20	J,4,G,19	18,5,O	F,16,M,10	P,13,21	11,15,17	1,12,2	N,K,L,A,E	B,11,6	3,9,14	Total	Avg
1	Russian Thunder	RU	29	23	24	29	25	21	19	41	25	25	261	26.1
2	Airbus	DE	24	21	22	27	23	19	17	37	24	23	237	23.7
3	CISM Windwerk	CH	29	22	22	28	22	19	18	21	24	22	227	22.7
4	Skynamite	DE	24	16	17	23	19	15	15	28	21	19	197	19.7
5	Piteraq	DE	21	19	16	21	15	15	15	24	19	18	183	18.3
6	Paranodon Futura	DE	19	17	15	20	19	13	14	24	14	15	170	17.0
7	Hoo Lee Rest	DE	17	14	15	21	17	13	11	26	15	17	166	16.6
8	EOS	CH	19	16	12	19	16	13	13	18	15	17	158	15.8
9	Wintertunnel	DE	18	15	12	19	17	14	11	20	16	15	157	15.7
10	Feierabendflieger	DE	19	16	13	20	17	12	11	20	14	14	156	15.6
11	NeVa	DE	16	14	15	18	16	13	9	22	17	13	153	15.3
12	Bazinga FSZ Saar	DE	16	14	10	17	17	12	13	16	14	12	141	14.1
13	Phoenix	DE	16	10	13	17	15	11	11	21	11	12	137	13.7
14	Titten und Bier	DE	13	13	12	17	15	9	11	18	15	12	135	13.5
15	Paranodon	DE	12	12	11	16	14	9	9	15	12	10	120	12.0

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The NSL News goes back to the Fly Challenge 2020, which had brought the German 4-way teams together in Munich just a few weeks ago. The corona virus pandemic was already spreading across the planet at that time. However, the event could still take place before medical restrictions forced the host of the national indoor championship to cancel the next event.

The Fly Challenge was a nice warm-up opportunity for the nationals, which would be the qualifier for the indoor world cup this year. Indoor team Airfource represented Germany at the indoor world meet at Weembi Lille last year, after outscoring Oceanside AtomiX in March 2019.

Neither Airfource nor AtomiX competed at the Fly Challenge, and the Airbus 4-way team was the strongest German 4-way team in 4-way Open. Airbus did not register for the German Indoor Nationals, as the lineup would not be complete. Team member Thomas Mack has been training and planning to compete with the Airfource indoor team, who needed a replacement for Stefan Wiesner in September last year.

This move brings Thomas Mack and Christian Schafer back together, who used to be team mates with Final Four until 2011. Final Four (Petra Baerenfaenger, Christian Wirth) peaked with a 17.7 average at the German Nationals 2011, where they threatened Paratec-Saar for the top spot in Germany. Thomas Mack and Christian Schafer were also Airbus 8-way team mates between 2015 and 2017.

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The German Indoor Nationals 2020 promised a showdown between the Airfource indoor experts, with new member Thomas Mack, and the national outdoor team, Oceanside AtomiX, who had de-throned Airbus with Thomas Mack at the German Nationals 2019 and now compete for Germany at the FAI World Meet 2020. The implications of the corona virus did not allow this showdown in Germany.

The German national indoor and outdoor team in 4-way Women, Skynamite, would not have an easy ride at this year's indoor championship, as well. Piteraq had finished only four points (211 - 207) behind Skynamite at last year's indoor nationals, and they were back at the Fly Challenge to put the same pressure on Skynamite.

Skynamite has a new lineup, with Verena Juergens for Janine Tillenburg/Linda Koeb/Andrea Kleinschmidt. The new lineup defended the top position in 4-way Women successfully at the Fly Challenge. Skynamite had competed for Germany at the FAI World Cup 2019 in Eloy and missed the bronze medals by two points. They will represent Germany once again at the FAI World Meet this year in Tanay, Russia.