posted May 3rd, 2022 - The NSL News reported on April 5th that Belgium and Austria had synchronized the competition draw for their respective national indoor championships.

It could be expected, of course, that the two Belgian world class teams, NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash, take the top spot in Belgium and on the combined leaderboard, while ISR FireFlash were even close enough to put some pressure on the still reigning indoor and outdoor world champions.

Windabona Black Mantis and Red Bull Aerodynamix were looking at the scores of the Belgian teams behind HayaBusa and FireFlash.

The Austrian indoor and outdoor champions outscored the rest of the remote Belgian AAA Class opposition, and Aerodynamix finished ahead of two Belgian AAA Class teams, as well.

Black Mantis finished with the highest average of the new lineup, after Leon Sina Golestani replaced Melanie Köckenbauer in 2021, and Aerodynamix lifted their previous 14.9 average to 19.1 at the indoor nationals in March this year.

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March 18th, 2022			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		H,O,4,D	19,8,B	Q,P,17,J	13,14,3	F,21,M,E	11,2,G	C,10,6	N,15,9	12,K,7	20,L,5	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	37	22	34	21	42	24	24	28	25	27	284	28.4
2	ISR FireFlash	BE	31	24	40	21	37	23	25	30	24	26	281	28.1
3	Windabona Black Mantis	AT	26	17	26	17	32	18	22	26	19	20	223	22.3
4	Falco	BE	24	17	25	17	30	19	18	23	20	17	210	21.0
5	Ayro	BE	21	18	28	14	27	18	18	23	19	14	200	20.0
6	HSV Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	23	14	29	17	26	18	16	18	19	11	191	19.1
7	Phoenix	BE	22	15	21	14	25	12	14	19	18	13	173	17.3
8	Full Flow	BE	23	11	22	13	25	14	14	16	16	14	168	16.8
9	Trance Ition	NL	19	16	17	13	24	15	14	17	15	11	161	16.1
10	UPCS Restmuell	AT	16	13	17	9	16	11	14	16	15	11	138	13.8
11	Union Linz Airvolution	AT	14	10	12	10	17	11	11	13	12	10	120	12.0
12	UPCS Blue Wombats	AT	12	8	10	8	18	5	7	7	11	8	94	9.4

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The remote online relationship between the Belgian and the Austrian teams would turn into a live experience less than a month later, at least for Windabona Black Mantis.

Four of the six Belgian AAA Class teams on the national leaderboard in March also represented their country with the maximum number of teams (4) on home turf at the FAI Indoor World Cup.

The placings of the teams were the same as on the weekend of the combined national indoor championships. NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash were far ahead of all other teams from Belgium and Austria, who had only Black Mantis on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard in Charleroi.

Black Mantis shared the exact half-way ranking position with INIT-Y from Brazil and distanced themselves once again far enough from Ayro with the next new team record average of the new lineup.

Despite the new record of the Austrian team, the distance to Ayro (15) was still shorter than in March (23), as Ayro competed on an even more improved performance level than at the Belgian indoor nationals.

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FAI Indoor World Cup 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		O,18,14		L,C,F,9		1,J,H,19		3,E,P,Q		20,7,16		2,13,8		17,D,6		N,22,A,G		12,5,11		M,21,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	29		54	-3	35		41		29		25		39		37		27		30		346	34.6
2	Aerokart Monaco Akdemie	FR	25	-1	58		28	-3	39	-2	25		25		33		32		24		28	-2	317	31.7
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	23	-1	54	-1	30	-1	38	-2	26		23		32		31	-1	24		28	-1	309	30.9
4	ISR FireFlash	BE	22	-1	41	-4	27	-2	36		22	-1	21		31		28		21	-1	27		276	27.6
5	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	22		44		28		30	-2	20	-1	22		26	-1	27		20	-1	24		263	26.3
6	HF Flying Circus	CZ	21	-1	39	-3	27	-2	33	-1	20	-2	21		28	-1	27	-1	21		23	-2	260	26.0
7	Meraki	UK	19	-1	43		25	-1	30	-1	23		20		26		27		20		24		257	25.7
8	Papea Masculino	ES	20	-1	41	-1	26	-2	31		21	-1	17	-2	25	-1	27	-1	21		24		253	25.3
9	SDC Rhythm XP	US	20		39	-2	25		31		17	-2	20		25	-1	22		18	-2	24		241	24.1
10	Out of the Blue	NL	20		39	-2	25		30		17	-2	19		27		23		18	-1	22		240	24.0
10	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	19	-1	43		24	-1	31		18	-2	17	-1	26		23		17	-2	22		240	24.0
12	Once Pakoi	FR	18		36	-2	24		31		19		18		24	-1	24		19		24		237	23.7
13	St Flow Weembi	FR	21		37		25		26	-1	19		19		23		25		19		22		236	23.6
13	Amnesya	IT	17	-1	33	-7	25		29	-1	21		19		24	-1	25		19		24		236	23.6
15	INIT-Y	BR	20	-2	39	-2	24	-1	22	-4	23		18	-1	27	-2	27		14	-3	20	-4	234	23.4
15	Windabona Black Mantis	AT	18	-1	39	-2	25		29		21		18	-1	25		23	-2	14	-2	22		234	23.4
17	Bronteroc	HU	19		41		24		31		19		15	-3	22	-2	24		18	-1	20	-2	233	23.3
18	Chaotic Motion	NL	17	-2	35	-1	23		29		18		18		23		22		19		19	-1	223	22.3
19	Ayro	BE	18	-1	35	-1	22		25	-1	18		17		24		22		17		21		219	21.9
20	Aurora	SE	18		37	-1	23		24	-2	17	-1	17		22	-2	20		17		22		217	21.7
21	Windabona Angels	ES	18	-1	34	-4	20	-1	25	-1	18		17		24		18	-2	18		22		214	21.4
22	Synergy	IT	19		35		22	-1	25	-1	14	-5	17		24		21	-1	16	-2	19		212	21.2
23	Alakran	ES	16	-2	33	-3	24		25	-1	19		18		20	-1	14	-5	14	-2	22		205	20.5
24	So Pressao	BR	15	-1	30	-5	20	-2	25	-1	16		16		21		22	-1	17		22		204	20.4
25	Equinox	LT	14	-4	34		21	-2	25		19		14	-1	21		16	-3	15	-1	22		201	20.1
26	Shaka	UK	17		29		20		22		14	-1	15		17	-2	18		13	-2	19		184	18.4
27	Monaco Aerodyne	FR	16	-1	23	-4	19		21		16		15	-1	18	-1	18		13	-1	18		177	17.7
28	Phoenix	BE	15	-2	27	-2	21		20		13	-4	15		17	-2	17	-1	14	-1	17	-1	176	17.6
29	Flyboys	IL	16		26	-3	16	-3	16	-4	15	-2	14	-1	20	-1	16	-2	12	-1	19	-1	170	17.0

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Windabona Black Mantis - Ayro - Phoenix at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022 - Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/Airspace Charleroi

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Ayro had just finished with the team's first 20-average performance at the Belgian indoor nationals and then became one of the most improved teams at the indoor world cup with the 21.9 in Charleroi. It was not enough yet to catch up with Windabona Black Mantis, while the distance is closer now.

The 4th Belgian team, Phoenix, finished with a new team record average, as well. The 1-point battle with Monaco Aerodyne was a part of the 3-team competition to stay away from the very bottom of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard.

The complete Phoenix lineup is still relatively new to AAA Class competition, after the team was launched in the A Class of 2018. They moved up to the AA Class a year later and came back in the AAA Class after the corona virus break.

All four Belgian teams and Black Mantis are training and competing indoors and outdoors, and the same team names will most likely be found again on outdoor leaderboards this summer. Only one team will compete for Belgium, or any country, at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022, where NMP PCH HayaBusa will have to defend the Belgian outdoor title.