posted Aug 9th, 2016 - The 2016 season has not been a lucky one for Arizona Airspeed so far.

The U.S. national team had started into the world meet year with a new lineup, when Mikhail Markine replaced Chris Farina, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on January 18th, with a follow-up story on January 20th.

It was a very promising start with the 24.2 average at the Shamrock Showdown 2016 after a challenging 10-round competition with a difficult draw. It seemed like the new lineup was on the right track.

Bad news followed on April 8th though, when tail Thiago Gomes broke the Phalanx bone of his right hand during a training jump. Airspeed continued the training with a few substitutes. However, the interruption did not help much in the pursuit of the reigning 4-way world champions from Belgium, NMP PCH HayaBusa.

Shamrock Showdown 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		3,13,9	G,6,21	10,20,11	18,4,B	F,1,14	19,5,7	P,Q,16,A	C,15,M,12	J,L,K,2	E,O,22,17	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	24	19	22(-1)	24	24	29	25	29	24	243	24.3

Airspeed had won the 1-point showdown for 4-way gold at the Mondial Dubai 2012 over HayaBusa and then ended up 11 points behind two years later in Prostejov 2014. The new 2015 lineup (Thomas Hughes, Niklas Hemlin, Thiago Gomes, Chris Farina, Justin Price on camera) then began to reduce the distance to the Belgian indoor and outdoor world champions at the Wind Games 2015 (10-point difference).

The HayaBusa advantage was down to 8 points at the Clash of Champions 2015 and then only 4 points at the World Air Games 2015 a week later.

The personnel change followed, and the new 2016 lineup did not meet NMP PCH HayaBusa at any competition this year, and after the promising performance at the Shamrock Showdown.

World Air Games 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		B,C,17,2	N,19,4	13,14,F	6,E,O,L	7,1,A	D,18,P,22	M,H,5,15	16,9,12	21,K,G,Q	11,20,3	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	29	26	23	36	28	23	31	24	27	22	269	26.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	27	22	36	28	19	29	25	30	20	265	26.5
3	Black Cat	RU	23	23	21	30	21	21	26	23	27	19	234	23.4

Thiago Gomes' broken finger was not the end of the Airspeed story, as videographer Justin Price had his own accident with a broken leg. The pursuit of the gold medals at the Mondial 2016 was still the main goal, and Airspeed improvised as good as possible until both were back in action.

The bad Airspeed luck still continued with the most recent news that point Mikhail Markine broke his hand a few days ago during a training jump in Eloy, and the timing could not be any worse. The Mondial 2016 is only a month away, and it will be impossible for Mikhail Markine to recover quickly enough.

In fact, Airspeed's point will need surgery after the hand injury, and his team will have to find a replacement for the upcoming competition with NMP PCH HayaBusa.

Prostejov 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	32	29	25	25	33	25	22	18	26	29	264	26.4
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	31	27	25	24	31	23	22	17	24	29	253	25.3
3	Evolution	CA	31	28	24	22	28	23	20	21	25	27	249	24.9

Thiago Gomes' accident was already unusual enough, as the actual 4-way performance in freefall does not cause a lot of injuries. It is hard to imagine that Mikhail Markine's accident was similar and just as unusual.

The training jump on Sunday included Block 7 (Sidebuddies - Sidebuddies), which is engineered in a way (cogging) that avoids collisions or at least reduces the damage if there is any contact during the individual 360' turns. However, the cogging technique still has two flyers each turning the same direction, and collisions between them are unlikely but possible. Airspeed used the Side Body (P) setup for the sub-terminal Block 7, and there was apparently a collision between Mikhail Markine's left hand and inside center Niklas Hemlin.

Mikhail Markine said that he was in pain but could land safely. Unfortunately, even more pain came with the realization that he was out of the Mondial 2016 game. Arizona Airspeed is now trying to find the best way how to deal with the situation...

Mondial Dubai 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		5,12,E	6,D,B,K	O,8,7	N,13,18	10,21,M	19,H,11	C,G,1,A	20,9,15	16,F,P,Q	2,J,4	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	34	27	22	23	23	32	25	40	26	279	27.9
2	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	25	34	27	21	23	24	32	27	40	25	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	26	30	27	21	23	25	29	23	37	24	265	26.5