posted Apr 4th, 2020 - The aftermath of the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship continues with the video of a live interview of Golden Knights 1997 world champion Eric Heinsheimer that has not been uploaded yet. It took place in the middle of the competition action when he had a short break between competition rounds.

Eric Heinsheimer was back in 8-way competition where his Formation Skydiving competition career began. He was in the legendary Golden Knights 8-way team that concluded the U.S. Army's "Decade of Excellence" (1987 - 1997) with the 6th consecutive set of 8-way gold medals for the U.S. delegations in 1997.

The 1997 lineup won with a record average (22.4) and two world records for a single round (30 - 31) that lasted for a very long time. It took 15 years until Brian "BK" Krause's lineup posted a 22.9 average in Dubai 2012. The 31-pointer for a single round lasted even longer and was eventually improved by the Golden Knights 2015 lineup at the USPA Nationals.

Eric Heinsheimer won his 8-way gold medal in 1997 as a Golden Knights rookie and then switched to 4-way training and competition with the U.S. Army team very soon. Arizona Airspeed had taken over the 8-way top spot in the United States in 1998, and the Golden Knights dropped the event to focus only on 4-way.

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FAI World Meet 1997			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		20,18,J	14,C,B,12	11,1,2	3,K,F,E	D,9,8	5,H,21	P,4,10	16,Q,M,15	A,17,22	7,N,6	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	21	23	30	16	18	24	31	22	17	224	22.4
2	Russia	RU	20	17	16	21	17	14	20	14	19	13	171	17.1
3	France	FR	16	15	17	19	14	14	17	19	11	13	155	15.5
4	Germany	DE	13	11	15	16	12	12	14	18	12	10	133	13.3
5	Australia	AU	15	14	14	15	12	11	13	12	12	9	127	12.7
6	Canada	CA	13	12	11	10	11	10	13	14	11	9	114	11.4
7	Great Britain	UK	10	11	11	12	8	7	11	11	7	-	88	9.8
8	Japan	JP	9	8	9	10	4	9	10	11	5	-	75	8.3
9	Netherlands	NL	7	8	9	9	5	4	9	12	8	-	71	7.9
10	Brazil	BR	8	9	4	5	7	7	7	7	7	-	61	6.8
11	Spain	ES	6	9	6	9	1	1	7	12	-	-	51	6.4
12	Austria	AT	6	6	7	0	5	5	7	7	-	-	43	5.4
13	Israel	IL	3	4	0	1	4	1	4	3	-	-	20	2.5

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The move from 8-way to 4-way was successful, as the Golden Knights 4-way team (Eric Heinsheimer, John Hoover, Chris Talbert, Kurt Isenbarger, Sean Capegreco on camera) won the USPA Nationals 2002, based on a spectacular Round 5 performance, and qualified as the U.S. national team in 4-way Open for the FAI World Meet 2003 in Gap, France.

The Golden Knights with Eric Heinsheimer followed up with a 4-way silver medal at the world meet a year later, while they could not maintain the 4-way top spot in the United States. DeLand Majik and DeLand Fire won the next FAI gold medals for the U.S. delegations in 2004 and 2006.

Eric Heinsheimer had to step back in 2007 due to a neck surgery, and John Hoover helped out for the remainder of the year. Eric Heinsheimer was back a year later when the Knightrax 8-way team needed somebody to fill a slot for the FAI World Meet in Maubeuge 2008. There he won his next FAI silver medal.

Then he retired from training and competition to focus on his new Formation Skydiving career as a West Point coach and a judge. He eventually became the highest qualified FAI Judge in the sport's history.

His active career as a recreational Formation Skydiving competitor was not over, and he came back into action when two wind tunnels opened near his residence in the Washington D.C. area. One of them is only 30 minutes away from his home and work place.

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Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Intermediate	B,Q,5	H,6,O	L,19,K	17,A,N	21,13	G,3,P	18,C,D	M,7,F	4,10	J,E,16	Total	Avg
1	8rz Gonna 8	15	14	12	12	12	21	14	14	13	14	141	14.1
2	AVG Honor 8	9	15	8	13	13	19	15	14	15	17	138	13.8
3	ZEUS 8	12	14	12	12	9	15	11	10	15	11	121	12.1
4	Air Force	11	13	9	10	8	15	14	11	5	11	107	10.7
5	Leight Eight	6	11	10	9	8	11	9	9	10	11	94	9.4

AVG Honor 8 at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020 - NSL Live Talk with Eric Heinsheimer

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The NSL News reported on 3 December 2019 that Dee Caminiti and Gorka Amian had launched the Indoor Cloud League team Capital Region and started organizing monthly ICL events at different wind tunnels.

Eric Heinsheimer used the easy opportunity to connect with the local and regional participants and with the All Veteran Group (AVG) of the U.S. Army, including AVG leader and former Golden Knight Michael Elliott.

He attended several ICL events as a player-coach for the 4-way lineups and eventually agreed to guide the AVG Honor 8-way team through the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020.

AVG Honor missed the 1st place in the 8-way Intermediate Class competition only by three points without any previous training, and Eric Heinsheimer's performance is the same eye candy that it was in his times as an 8-way world champion and world record holder.

His comeback included a unique event for him. He needed a new helmet, as his Factory Diver of the Golden Knights era began to fall apart, and he had to replace it. He bought a brand-new Cookie G4 and told the NSL News that this was his first purchase of skydiving equipment in 25 years: "I used to have a good sponsor..." Eric Heinsheimer plans to continue with his engagement for the Capital Region's Indoor Cloud League team, with or without a sponsor. Participants will have the opportunity to fly with a world champion...