posted Feb 12th, 2021 - The NSL News introduced the Austrian 4-way team Black Mantis after the Austrian Nationals 2019. After two years of team training, Black Mantis had arrived at the point where they were offering the Austrian 4-way veterans of Final Fire serious opposition on the top of the leaderboard.

The NSL News followed Black Mantis regularly on their way to the national outdoor championship title a year later. Not much happened ever since, as Austria was suffering from the corona virus pandemic as all other countries.

NSL Live Talk with the team on 4 October 2020 provided an update of the situation in Austria, after Black Mantis had eventually ended up on the leaderboard of the NSL Cloud Mondial 2020.

It has been just as quiet ever since until a 4-way team from Austria recently competed at the CISM Qatar International 2021, which eventually brought to light a cross-connection between the military 4-way lineup from Austria and Black Mantis.

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Austrian Indoor Nationals 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		11,8,13		F,22,16		21,3,1		10,D,15		L,M,C,9		12,2,G		J,O,Q,A,14		18,6,N		P,B,7,H		17,20,K		Total	Avg
1	Windabona Black Mantis	AT	18		22		17	-2	21		42	-2	18		29		18	-2	34	-2	21		240	24.0
2	Lucky Boys	HU	15	-2	20	-2	17	-1	17		32		17		29		19	-1	22	-5	18		206	20.6
3	SkyRaiders	AT	13	-2	20		17		16		35	-1	9	-3	29		21		27	-2	15	-3	202	20.2
4	HSV Red Bull AerodynamiX	AT	10		16		13		14		19		13		23		13		14		14		149	14.9
5	UPCS Team Restmüll	AT	12		12		9		15		19		11		22		15		20		11		146	14.6
6	UPCS Fliegende Fetzen	AT	5		8		8		4		11		7		10		5		7		7		72	7.2

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It is Black Mantis member Artur Gazda who connects the two Austrian teams. HSV Red Bull Salzburg Fallschirmsport AerodynamiX, the official team name, competed for the Austrian military in Qatar. As most other CISM teams do, the team members train and compete in 4-way and accuracy both.

Artur Gazda is providing the technical details for the 4-way part. AerodynamiX are also training the complete FAI/ISC dive pool, as they see NMP PCH HayaBusa and Qatar Tigers as their role medals in 4-way competition.

In fact, AerodynamiX attended their first competition at the Austrian Indoor Nationals 2020, where they finished with a 14.9 average for the complete FAI/ISC dive pool on the AAA Class leaderboard. Only too many point deductions kept AerodynamiX now from beating their own indoor average at the outdoor competition in Qatar a year later.

AerodynamiX completed six hours of indoor training with Artur Gazda before the Austrian indoor championship last year. Then the implications of the corona virus pandemic reduced the outdoor training to less than 40 jumps. It has not been much better so far this year, with 12 jumps during the winter months in Austria.

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Qatar International 2021			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Men		M,J,17,P	M,Q,C,11	M,21,N,F	M,H,B,10	M,19,A,L	M,(15),G,4	M,D,K,14	Total	Avg
1	Qatar Tigers	QA	36	30(-1)	37	28(-1)	30(-1)	28(-1)	24(-1)	213	30.4
2	Bundeswehr	DE	31	25	26(-1)	28(-1)	26	24	25	185	26.4
3	Morocco	MA	23(-3)	24	26	23(-1)	22(-1)	20(-4)	15(-5)	153	21.9
4	Austria	AU	11(-3)	9(-3)	16	14(-2)	10(-3)	6(-7)	13	79	11.3

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HSV RED BULL SALZBURG Fallschirmsport AerodynamiX at the Qatar CISM International 2021

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AerodynamiX used only this year's outdoor training jumps and 30 minutes of indoor training to re-focus on the CISM format and to get ready for the competition in Qatar. Only four teams were able to travel to the competition site, and even the world champions from Belgium could not attend the meet.

AerodynamiX have their own interesting team history. The team members knew each other from their home club in Salzburg. However, Austria already had a military CISM team, and they had to make adjustments to get the lineup together under the military umbrella.

It worked out well, and the lineup is now the same for CISM and FAI/ISC events both. The home club, HSV Red Bull Salzburg, supports the team in the civilian part of 4-way training and competition, while the Austrian military allows the team to use the training facilities at the same time, and to represent the country at CISM events.

The team members are eager to follow the path of NMP PCH HayaBusa and Qatar Tigers. Coach Artur Gazda may bring AerodynamiX quickly to the point where they become a challenger for Black Mantis - just as much as Final Fire helped Black Mantis to become their own strongest opponent...