posted May 30th, 2021 - The NSL News reported on May 24th that Airbus replaces Oceanside AtomiX as the German national team in 4-way Open at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2021. Fortunately, the German skydiving federation (DFV) and national coach Robert Trögele had no problem with sanctioning Airbus quickly as the substitute team in this category.

Airbus was the runner-up at the German Nationals in 2019, which was the qualification event for the upcoming world championship in Russia. The situation was different in 4-way Women, as the NSL News reported on May 26th. However, Germany will have teams in 4-way Open and in 8-way, where the Airbus 8-way lineup have been the German champions and the national team for many years.

The German 8-way participation at world meets since 1985 is not as consistent as it has been in 4-way Open, and the quick reaction of federation and national coach saves at least the flawless record in the biggest event at each world meet. The 8-way participation did not require any adjustments, and there is no alternate solution in 4-way Women at the moment.

The Airbus 4-way lineup will once again join the Airbus 8-way team in the German Formation Skydiving delegation for the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 this August, just as it was at the world meets in Ottawa 2016 and Australia 2018.

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German Nationals 2019		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	E,G,M,2		B,4,1		9,K,L,O		13,15,14		22,16,3		21,6,D		5,J,12		P,17,7		10,H,C,11		8,F,19		Total	Avg
1	Oceanside AtomiX	26		19		26	-1	15	-1	15		17		19		24		18		16		195	19.5
2	Airbus	22		18	-1	28		15		14	-1	15	-2	18		21		16	-1	19		186	18.6
3	Dark Energy	18	-2	14		20		11		13		16		14		17		13		14		150	15.0
4	Bardarbunga 2.0	20		14		22		13		8	-5	11	-2	14		17		13		16		148	14.8
5	Skynamite	18		14		17		11		11		14		12	-1	17		12	-1	14		140	14.0
6	NeVa FSZ Saar	19		14		15	-2	10		11		13		13		15		11		14		135	13.5
7	HorschD FSZ Saar	18		12		14		10		10		12		10		9	-2	11		11		117	11.7
8	Join Up	13	-1	13		15	-1	11		7	-2	12		10	-1	14		10	-1	11		116	11.6
9	Airgrips	10	-1	9		13		5	-1	7		10		8		9	-1	10		9	-1	90	9.0
10	4Motion	10		9		13		8		7		8		3	-1	9		6	-1	9		82	8.2

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Airbus Illertissen at the German Nationals 2019

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Partcipation of German 4-way Open Class teams at FAI world meets since 1985

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The German situation for the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 is still very different compared to the Airbus teams in 2016, and it resembles more the one of the same 4-way Open and 8-way national teams in Australia 2018.

The complete Airbus 4-way lineup had double-duties in 2016 as the second half of the 8-way lineup. Current Airbus member Thomas Mack remembers that the double-duties were not helpful for the performance in both events, and the Airbus 2018 delegation had separated the teams. He and Markus Bastuck, Göran Meyer, Joern Thiele competed in 4-way, with Andreas Trögele on camera, and the current Airbus 8-way lineup represented Germany in 8-way Open.

Thomas Mack was the alternate for the 8-way lineup in Australia, and it happened that he had to come back back for the double-duty situation when Thomas Spielvogel suffered an injury in the run-up to the world meet. Thomas Spielvogel is back in the 8-way lineup this year. He and Linda Koeb, Carl Enders, Stefan Knoch, Alex Prendinger, Steffen Schiedek, Uli Sehrbrock and Olaf Biedermann, with Erik Lorenz on camera, will compete in Tanay.

In fact, the Airbus 4-way team did not expect at all to compete for the German delegation in Russia this year, and there would be no need for any consideration of potential double-duties. However, this time the situation changed once again, and now for a different reason.

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NSL Cloud Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		22,21,M		5,C,J,H		7,3,6		10,E,9		18,L,B,F		D,20,15		17,P,A,1		8,Q,12		N,13,K,11		G,14,O,2		4,19,16		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	21		40		25		26		34		22	-2	29		20		24		24		21		286	26.0
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	20	-1	36		23		23	-1	33		23		28	-1	21		24		23		19		273	24.8
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	20	-1	36		21		24		31		21	-1	26		19		23		23		19		263	23.9
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	20		32	-2	18	-2	23		29	-1	20	-1	26		18		23		20		18		247	22.5
5	Paraclete XPG4	US	17		22	-2	17		17		20	-1	17		21		16		17		17		13		194	17.6
6	CTR Optimum	BR	17		21		17		17	-1	17	-2	15		16	-1	12	-1	14		14		13	-2	173	15.7
7	Ayro	BE	12	-1	16		12	-1	12	-1	16		12		17		11		14		10	-3	12		144	13.1
8	SDC RhEvolution XP	US	12	-1	14	-2	12		11		15	-1	12		11	-2	10	-1	13		9	-2	-		119	11.9
9	Airbus Illertissen	DE	13		16		11		10	-1	16		8	-1	13		7		12		7	-1	-		113	11.3
10	Out of the Blue	NL	15		22	-1	15		20		23		-		-		-		-		-		-		95	19.0

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Airbus Illertissen at the NSL Cloud Mondial 2020

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Partcipation of German 8-way Open Class teams at FAI world meets since 1985

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The late cancellation by Oceanside AtomiX did not leave much room for Alex Prendinger to look for ways how to avoid his first world meet double-duties. He had joined the new Airbus 8-way lineup at the end of the 2017 season, together with his three Eyjafjallajökull teammates, Linda Koeb, Carl Enders and Stefan Knoch. Then he also joined the new Airbus 4-way lineup that Thomas Mack recruited after the world meet in Australia 2018.

The new Airbus lineup did not expect to win the national 4-way title any time soon and still placed 2nd with player-coach Solly Williams in the lineup in 2019, not too far behind Oceanside AtomiX. Thomas Mack still continued with his rebuilding of the team, and Airbus welcomed young Felix Pfeiffer as the new team member last year, as the NSL News reported on 23 August 2020.

Airbus Illertissen with Felix Pfeiffer participated in the NSL Cloud Mondial 2020 in the process of the early training, and they collected precious competition experiences at the same time. The call to world meet action for Germany this year is an unexpected extra gift for the team, at least for Sarah Mertes and Felix Pfeiffer, who will make their first world meet experiences at the live event in Tanay. Alex Prendinger can get plenty of advice for double-duties from his 4-way team mate Thomas Mack.

The same call also brings videographer Andreas Trögele, son of new national coach Robert Trögele, back to world meet action. He was filming German national teams at the world meets in 2016 and 2018 and had expected a trip to Russia as little as his Airbus 4-way team.