posted Jun 6th, 2016 - It is nothing new that Thomas Hughes, Arizona Airspeed member between 2011 and 2016, plans to step back from active training and competition at the end of this year. The Sun Path Products NSL News posted the news on December 21st, after he had announced his plans at the Clash of Champions 2015.

It is also normal Airspeed procedure that the team negotiates the new lineups early and announces new members long before they start training and competing. The newest member, Mikhail Markine, was officially introduced to the 4-way world in January 2016 for the slot that would open up after the USPA Nationals this year.

Things changed quickly when Chris Farina left the team, and Mikhail Markine had to step in much earlier than expected, as the Sun Path Products NSL News reported on January 20th. The personnel change early this year put Airspeed back on the hunt for a new Outside Center.

Once again, it did not take too long until Arizona Airspeed made the call and selected the new team member. Ari Perelman will be the team's Outside Center after the USPA Nationals 2016.

His recent path into the new Airspeed lineup began when Thiago Gomes was injured in April and could not train with the team for a while.

Airspeed was in the middle of preparing the new front piece (Thomas Hughes - Mikhail Markine) for the challenging task at the Mondial 2016 and could not wait for Thiago Gomes' recovery.

John D'Annunzio and Ari Perelman substituted in the Tail slot, and the Airspeed members took an extra look at Ari Perelman's performance.

The training was a try-out period for him at the same time since he was selected earlier as a candidate for the Outside Center slot at the end of the year.

Shamrock Showdown 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		18,7,15	9,10,14	4,F,M,A	L,H,E,6	3,P,5	G,C,J,D,B	12,13,Q	1,16,20	21,N,O,2	19,11,22	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	21	22	32	30	25	42	22	17	22	19	252	25.2
2	Maubeuge	FR	21	18	30	28	24	45	21	19	22	19	247	24.7
3	Evolution	CA	18	19	27	27	20	36	19	17	20	17	220	22.0
4	Black Cat	RU	19	17	27	29	23	42	18	16	21	-	212	23.6
5	Golden Knights Black	US	19	19	29	30	22	43	19	18	-	-	199	24.9
6	DeLand Groove	US	19	21	28	29	21	40	18	17	-	-	193	24.1
7	Fastrax	US	18	16	27	28	24	39	19	16	-	-	187	23.4
8	Perris Fury	US	19	17	25	31	22	43	-	-	-	-	157	26.2
9	Satori	UK	16	16	22	26	18	25	16	12	-	-	151	18.9
10	Teiwaz	US	11	17	21	21	16	27	15	14	-	-	142	17.8
11	Optic Nerve	US	14	12	21	20	20	25	15	12	-	-	139	17.4
12	Fortitudo	NO	12	14	21	19	14	22	11	12	12	-	137	15.2
13	Sebastian Tempest	US	14	12	22	22	16	23	13	13	-	-	135	16.9
14	Blue Spirits	SE	9	11	20	17	13	23	12	6	13	7	131	13.1
15	Team Twisted	US	14	13	20	18	15	26	13	11	-	-	130	16.3
16	Danish Blaze	DK	11	10	17	13	16	22	12	11	13	-	125	13.9
17	Fastrax Blue	US	14	15	21	22	17	31	-	-	-	-	120	20.0
18	Sequence	DK	11	10	14	12	11	15	9	9	9	-	100	11.1
19	Venom	NO	9	10	14	12	9	18	11	7	-	-	90	11.3
20	Chicas	DE	12	12	20	17	14	-	-	-	-	-	75	15.0
21	Bangsimon	IS	4	8	10	9	8	9	7	6	8	-	69	7.7
22	Skybreakers	DK	6	6	10	9	7	9	7	2	-	-	56	7.0

The new Airspeed lineup next year brings back together two former team mates, who may both have been only dreaming of an Airspeed slot when they were training and competing together.

Thiago Gomes and Ari Perelman spent the first year of Sebastian Tempest together, with Chris Ash and Kris Peterson in the lineup. Pat Walker was filming the team, and Thomas Hughes was coaching Tempest in his 8-way year with the U.S. team at the FAI World Meet in Maubeuge 2008.

Together they attended eight meets with Tempest in 2008, including the Shamrock Showdown, where they witnessed Arizona Airspeed winning the DeLand competition over a world class field in Odyssey's gold medal year. Coach Thomas Hughes competed with Fastrax at the same event.

The Tempest lineup with Thiago Gomes and Ari Perelman finished the year with a 17.1 average at the USPA Nationals 2008.

USPA Nationals 2008		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	2,10,15	F,C,3,H	J,O,4,N	20,M,E,11	13,12,L	9,A,19	18,22,D	21,17,P	6,14,Q	B,1,G,7	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	20	31	28	23	20	30	18	24	22	26	242	24.2
2	France Maubeuge	19	29	27	22	20	29	20	22	21	26	235	23.5
3	Black Cat	18	27	29	23	18	25	20	20	21	25	226	22.6
4	Perris Fury	18	28	24	23	18	23	17	21	21	25	218	21.8
5	Golden Knights Black	19	28	26	20	19	25	15	21	21	21	215	21.5
6	Aerokart Mamba Pamiers	17	28	25	19	16	25	16	18	19	20	203	20.3
7	Performance Desired	15	28	25	20	17	25	14	18	19	21	202	20.2
8	Arizona Divewerkz	15	25	23	19	17	19	16	19	16	21	190	19.0
9	Nice Maubeuge Holidays	17	22	19	19	16	22	14	21	18	19	187	18.7
10	Ocean 5	14	24	21	19	15	22	16	17	16	22	186	18.6
11	Spaceland Directe XP	13	22	22	17	16	22	14	19	17	18	180	18.0
12	Inept	14	19	22	19	12	22	14	16	16	20	174	17.4
13	Sebastian Tempest	13	22	21	17	16	17	12	16	17	20	171	17.1
14	Mass Defiance	15	23	22	20	13	23	15	17	18	1	167	16.7
15	Fastrax Blue	12	16	22	17	13	21	13	16	17	18	165	16.5
16	Paraclete XP	14	18	19	15	13	15	13	16	18	20	161	16.1
17	Russia Cross Road	13	20	21	17	14	19	12	10	17	16	159	15.9
18	Anzus	11	22	19	16	13	19	11	16	14	17	158	15.8
19	Monaco Pujaut Aerial	12	17	19	13	13	19	11	15	13	14	146	14.6
20	Quattro	11	18	15	11	7	14	10	13	12	14	125	12.5
21	Sopranos	10	15	15	13	8	16	10	10	11	13	121	12.1

Thiago Gomes and Ari Perelman knew each other even before they trained and competed with Sebastian Tempest in 2008. They connected for the first time in one of the many Teiwaz lineups and competed together with James Klinge and Rodney Cruce at the July meet of the Florida Skydiving League 2007.

They came back together a month later for the FSL August meet, this time with the complete future Tempest lineup, and launched the new team project with a 13.5 average at Skydive City. Thiago Gomes and Ari Perelman then competed again with Teiwaz Tempest at the NSL Championship 2007 (Bob Byrne, Chris Ash) before starting with team training for the 2008 season.

Tempest continued without Ari Perelman in 2009, and Gilles Dutrisac took his slot. The Tempest 2009 season became the launching pad for Thiago Gomes' road to Arizona Airspeed. He attended the Rhythm tryouts for the 2010 season and was invited to join the team. He stayed with SDC Rhythm XP for three years and then became the next new Airspeed member in 2013.

Ari Perelman did not follow the same or a similar road. He committed to a few teams with different lineups year by year (Shmeland - 2010, Throw Down - 2011, AZ Plosion - 2012, Arizona Prime - 2013, Dallas Khaos Kobalt - 2014) and competed only in 8-way with the Amphibious Attack Tigers at the USPA Nationals 2015.

However, he also connected once again with the current Airspeed members in the 10-way and 16-way lineups, including his 2008 team mate Thiago Gomes and coach Thomas Hughes.

His next commitment is very different compared to the previous ones. Arizona Airspeed's new lineup has set up a 4-year plan.

Airspeed's newest team member is not coming from the toughest challenger this time. SDC Rhythm XP's 4-way turf has been the recruiting field for Airspeed in the past years (Thiago Gomes, Chris Farina, Mikhail Markine) and none of the current team members is moving to Arizona later this year...