posted Nov 15th, 2009 - The NSL News had already mentioned several cross-event activities of 4-way and 8-way competitors at the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships. This coverage went beyond the 10-way and 16-way events, which are part of the Formation Skydiving competition anyway. So is 4-way Vertical Formation Skydiving where a few 4-way competitors participated, as well.

The Formation Skydiving events took place during the first week of the USPA Nationals 2009. The artistic events began at the end of the same week, which made it difficult for anybody who was still competing in 16-way or 10-way, and especially for any 4-way VFS competitors.

Spaceland Force XP member Thomas Hughes had actually signed up for the Freestyle competition with Spaceland Thomas Knuckle but skipped this event eventually, as he had already tried to compete in each of the Formation Skydiving events, including VFS. The logistics became too difficult.

There were no overlapping activities between Formation Skydiving competition and Canopy Formation or Style/Accuracy. However, a few competitors of the first week waited until the Canopy Piloting competition began on Wednesday of the second week.

Elsinore BTE member Melanie Curtis was one of the competitors with the most diversified activities this year. She competed in the 4-way Open Class, in 8-way Open with Spaceland BFE Elsinore, won the gold medal with Elsinore VFS in the Advanced Class and finished off her USPA Nationals 2009 in the Advanced Class of the Canopy Piloting event.

Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo have already been a part of the Canopy Piloting world for several years and have become two of the most successful competitors in this event. This time, 4-way team mate Thomas Hughes was also swooping the pond at Spaceland.

Shannon Pilcher was the most successful swooper of the three Force members. He finished with a silver medal in the overall rankings, shortly behind USPA winner Nicholas Batsch. Marat "Maha" Leiras was far ahead of everybody in first place as a guest competitor.

Ian Bobo did really well in the Accuracy event but not so good in some other categories. He ended up in 15th place of the overall rankings. Thomas Hughes finished only two places behind Ian Bobo in 17th position of 50 participants.

Spaceland Blue videographer Niklas Daniel has also put some efforts into his Canopy Piloting agenda. He first filmed his team in 4-way, then Spaceland BFE Elsinore in 8-way, before he finished in 25th place of the Open Class Canopy Piloting competition.

Shannon Pilcher actually completed the USPA Nationals 2009 with the most medals in his collection of all competitors. He won the silver medal in the 4-way Open Class with Spaceland Force XP and an unexpected bronze medal with Paraclete XP in 8-way. Then he won a gold medal with Arizona Airspeed in 16-way and a silver medal with Annie's Toys in 10-way.

He waited for a week to finally win the silver medal in the Canopy Piloting competition. Several Airspeed members collected three gold medals and one bronze medal, and team mate Thomas Hughes had also four medals at the end of the Formation Skydiving events. However, only Shannon Pilcher won the additional silver medal in Canopy Piloting to make it a total of five medals.

Actually, Thomas Hughes was also in 3rd place of the three teams in the 4-way VFS competition. However, Spaceland Vertical Force withdrew after three of the eight rounds. Shannon Pilcher and Thomas Hughes can discuss whether this 3rd place counts for a real medal or not. They still have an additional achievement in their collection that does not come with a medal. They now own the 4-way world record for a single round.