posted May 29th, 2024 - The NSL News related to Arizona Airspeed recently even more comprehensively than usual, as the 30-year anniversary was celebrated at the traditional Arizona Challenge last weekend. The actual events that initiated Arizona Airspeed and the historic institution in Formation Skydiving competition happened in December 1993, as the NSL News reported on 19 December 2023.

The update on May 26th covered the Airspeed history with more details, including the four years when two different Airspeed lineups, the original team, followed by the succeeding Airspeed Vertical lineup, tried to win 4-way and 8-way gold medals both at the same world championships (1999, 2001).

The next NSL News story followed up with the FAI medal count between 1985 and 2022, and three Airspeed alumni (Craig Girard, Kirk Verner, Mark Kirkby) could be found in the top positions of the combined open class rankings of 4-way and 8-way competition.

There was still a missing piece of a comprehensive anniversary coverage, as the NSL News was not present at the celebration event, this year's Arizona Challenge. Airspeed team captain Niklas Hemlin had recovered well enough to make himself available for a new NSL Live Talk conversation, which included the large-formation event at Skydive Arizona with the anniversary celebration and a new update of the team events.

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NSL Live Talk with Arizona Airspeed's Niklas Hemlin

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Niklas Hemlin had provided a preview of the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 after his early arrival in China on April 10th and followed up for the aftermath on April 25th. He said in today's NSL Live Talk conversation that Arizona Airspeed was back in training shortly after returning from China.

Airspeed did not have to change very much to transition from 4-way indoor strategies to 4-way outdoor training. Niklas Hemlin said again that his team performs indoors more like an outdoor team, without any significant adjustments of techniques and flying style for the indoor/outdoor switching.

However, Arizona Airspeed applied an interesting practice at the first outdoor training camp after the end of the indoor season. It is not unusual that AAA Class teams practice their "B-slots" regularly.

The front piece switches the slots between point and outside center, the rear piece between inside center and tail. The AAA Class dive pool may require the slot-switching when certain blocks are in the sequences, and if teams want to apply the most efficient engineering. Two blocks (5,17) switch the slots in both pieces, and the front piece has had additional four blocks (3,10,12,16) with slot-switchers.

USPA Nationals 2015		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	J,H,2,8	6,D,18	F,9,L,O	1,17,E	K,19,N,P	3,7,5	4,A,B,12	11,16,M	15,Q,22	20,14,10	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	27	24	43	23	26	25	25	23	21	19	256	25.6
2	SDC Rhythm XP	22	21	42	25	27	20	23	20	20	16	236	23.6
3	Golden Knights	23	19	37	22	24	19	23	21	19	17	224	22.4
4	Carolina Turbo XP	22	20	34	22	25	20	19	21	18	16	217	21.7
5	HG XP	15	18	30	18	22	19	18	15	14	12	181	18.1
6	Prestige Worldwide	18	16	27	15	16	16	14	16	14	13	165	16.5
7	EOS	17	14	26	16	15	15	15	17	13	13	161	16.1
8	Dallas 350	16	16	23	15	17	17	15	16	14	11	160	16.0
9	Verve XP	15	13	27	14	17	16	16	16	13	12	159	15.9
10	Spaceland Lite	16	14	23	13	17	13	13	13	14	10	146	14.6
11	Camdak.is	14	11	21	12	12	13	12	8	10	8	121	12.1

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Arizona Airspeed at the USPA Nationals 2015

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Niklas Hemlin explained that at least Airspeed's front piece (point Joey Marshall, outside center Niklas Hemlin) has two more blocks (4,19) where switching slots allows a more efficient engineering of the whole sequence. This brings the number of potentially slot-switching blocks to a total of eight (3,4,5,10,12,16,17,19) including the double-switchers 5 and 17.

The front piece partners have to expect slot-switchers and additional memory on a very regular basis and need to be well prepared for the challenge, much more prepared than the rear piece with only two blocks.

Niklas Hemlin explained that Airspeed used the complete May camp with almost 100 training jumps to practice only the B-slots. Many teams start in the A-slots for exit consistency, and the B-slots begin on the second page, after the first completion of the respective sequence. The Airspeed strategy includes exits in B-slot positions, and the front piece had the whole May camp to practice them. Joey Marshall was outside center this month, Niklas Hemlin point.

It was not the first time for Niklas Hemlin in Airspeed's point slot. His Airspeed comeback after winning the 4-way gold medals in Dubai 2012 started in 2015, when Thomas Hughes was still outside center (2011 - 2016). Niklas Hemlin took Thiago Gomes' point slot, who switched to tail, with inside center Chris Farina. Airspeed won the USPA Nationals 2015, and Niklas Hemlin still switched to inside center the year after. Current tail Mikhail Markine was the new point for one year in 2016.