posted Oct 13th, 2006 - The NSL News story on October 10 introduced a new world class line-up with three of the current 4-way world champions of DeLand Fire, Gary Smith, Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo. Solly Williams is the fourth member of this team. The same story mentioned that the NSL News will follow up with the plans of the remaining two former DeLand Fire members, Natasha Montgomery (Point) and Thomas Hughes (Alternate).

Actually, it did not take too much imagination to speculate successfully on the couple's plans. Thomas Hughes has trained and competed with Arizona Airspeed this year. The Airspeed focus was set on the 8-way event until the World Meet 2006 in Germany. However, both 4-way line-ups, Odyssey and Velocity, still jumped together and trained in the tunnel whenever there was time.

The Airspeed focus switched from 8-way to 4-way when the world meet was over. There is no serious 8-way challenger expected to threaten Airspeed at the USPA Nationals this month in Eloy. Both 4-way line-ups used the time between the world meet and the upcoming competition to train as much 4-way as possible.

Airspeed Odyssey has the same line-up as in 2005 and 2006, with Eliana Rodriguez (Point), Craig Girard (Center Outside), Andy Delk (Center Inside) and Brian Johnson (Tail). Airspeed Velocity lost Kirk Verner who left the Airspeed quarters right after the end of the World Meet 2006.

Eric Gin (Center Inside) and Andy Honigbaum (Tail) still have their complete rear piece, but Thomas Hughes needed a new piece partner in the front piece. The open slot was the perfect opportunity for Natasha Montgomery when it became clear that DeLand Fire would disband after the world meet as planned.

Natasha Montgomery and Thomas Hughes were already team and piece partners with Arizona Blade, the NSL Championship winner of the AAA Class competition at SkyQuest 2004. Mark Kirkby and Robert Healy completed the Blade line-up. Thomas Hughes was Center Outside, Natasha Montgomery was the Point.

Thomas Hughes was a player coach for team sponsor Natasha Montgomery by then. Things have changed in the meantime. Point Natasha Montgomery is now a 4-way world champion, the first female competitor in history who won Excalibur in the 4-way Open category. Airspeed Velocity welcomed the only 4-way world champion of the current line-up when she took Kirk Verner's slot.

However, she will not take the slot of the leaving 4-way world champion veteran, and there is no need for it. Thomas Hughes has a lot of experience in the Outside Center position, even though he jumped the Point position for Airspeed Velocity this year. The front piece work with Kirk Verner has given him enough cross training.

It is also a fact that the same front piece in exactly the same slots trained and competed a lot throughout Arizona Blade's 2004 season. Natasha Montgomery and Thomas Hughes are obviously very familiar with each other. The new Airspeed Velocity line-up might just have the same strength as it had with Kirk Verner.

The second Airspeed line-up is the strongest one that Airspeed has ever had. The Airspeed history was made of the strong 8-way line-up and one very strong 4-way team, which was always a gold medal contender at world meets and world cups at the same time. The second Airspeed 4-way team out of the 8-way line-up was never on the same scoring level as the "A Team".

The situation was different at the beginning of the 2006 season. Both Airspeed 4-way teams competed at the SSL Valentine's Meet 2006, and Velocity finished only three points behind Odyssey with a 21.0 average after six rounds. Velocity's performance was even more impressive considering the fact that Odyssey had already been together for a whole year, while Velocity's line-up was brandnew.

Kirk Verner is one of the best and most experienced 4-way competitors in the history of Formation Skydiving competition, and it will not be easy to fill this big hole. However, Thomas Hughes has been one of the most talented competitors in the world, and he has added a lot of experience to his talent. Natasha Montgomery is a brandnew world champion in her original slot.

The Velocity line-up is also eager to do well at the USPA Nationals 2006. The team has already been training in Arizona for a week and plans to complete more than 100 training jumps and plenty of tunnel time before the start of the 4-way competition in Eloy. Natasha Montgomery might have a realistic chance to defend her 4-way USPA title successfully.

The NSL News will weigh the chances of all top contenders with upcoming stories. One interesting aspect of the USPA Nationals 2006 is the fact that Arizona Airspeed seems to have a realistic chance to win the 8-way event and take both top positions in 4-way, as well. This would be a new record in the USA.

Another interesting aspect is the fact that the current 4-way world champions of former DeLand Fire will compete against each other in Eloy, three of them with Solly Williams and two of them with Airspeed Velocity. The beginning of the USPA Nationals 2006 is only one week away.