posted Jan 12th, 2010 - Arizona Airspeed's re-jump for Round 3 had an aftermath that lasted for a little while. The Hayabusa Defence Blog showed that the reason for the re-jump was disputed and not appreciated by everybody:

"There were some problems with the air speed of the chopper when Airspeed needed to jump out in Round 3. There was a big discussion going on, it is better that I spare you the details, but it wasn't nice, what they pulled out this time, to get their re-jump. The protest came in AFTER they knew the score."

Hayabusa was of the opinion that a protest should be filed before a team knows the score, even though there is no rule that requires such a procedure: "If you are feeling unhappy with the exit, you protest immediately and not after knowing the score!"

The NSL News reported earlier that the Airspeed Blog on Facebook mentioned that there was some kind of trouble with the exit. This note was posted before the scores for Round 3 were posted. The protest itself was filed after the scores were posted at the competition site in Dubai.

Hayabusa argued that Airspeed could have ignored the issue, as other teams were dealing with the same situation, including the Belgian top contender:

"There were some problems with the rules I've been told. In the rules it says that the variation of the aircraft speed can be between 60 and 120 knots, so not 80 ± 5 knots, and then it was something like: yeah there was not enough airspeed at the door. But when we crawled outside to hang the exit formation, the chopper stopped flying. A whole lot of b*llsh*t of-course!"

Hayabusa was emotionally involved and needed some time to digest the situation:

"The chief judge bought it, and they got there re-jump this morning. After they got busted again, from 23 to 22, we kinda had a ridiculous feeling. The whole dz came to us, as well, without understanding this decision.

Some discussion was going on in our tent, because first we came back to a single point, and then they ran away again from us to 3 points. When the discussion was over, we got focussed again, and concentrated on Round 4."

That round brought another surprise, this time to the advantage of the Belgian team: "The judges even surprised us with an extra point, we've counted 22, but got 23."

That's where the story of Round 3 ended and the one of Round 4 began. Hayabusa commented Airspeed's Round 4, as well, the round where the Belgian team caught up again after outscoring Airspeed by two points.

The NSL stop watch had the same 22 points within working time for Airspeed that the Hayabusa members had counted for themselves. Airspeed ended up with a 21-poiner on the scoreboard, and the Hayabusa Blog explained the deduction with a grip violation in Block 10 (Diamond - Bunyip).

Airspeed did not comment on the judging of Round 4. However, it is very difficult to find the spot where the judges must have seen the assisting grip within the rear piece. This call turned out to be the next one to the advantage of the Belgian team. Eventually, the re-jump in Round 3 and the scores of Round 4 seem to have evened each other out, and Airspeed was still one point ahead.

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