In early 2006, the world's most experienced skydivers assembled in Thailand to build a record, 400-way formation. What did it take? The resources of an entire air force, 300 tons of Jet-A, a trainload of oxygen bottles and the determined endurance of a marathon runner. On the 15th anniversary of that record, we’re republishing this article, which first appeared in February 2006.
Paul–your excellent narrative about an air sport that few have experience with had me “standing in the door”–adrenaline and heart rate up!
With small airplanes, inexperienced jumpers, and military surplus equipment, a “3-way” was hard to achieve when I got my first one in the late 60s and early 70s. We tried larger ones out of a Turbo 207 and Queen Airs, but the collective expertise just wasn’t there to do it.
As Paul mentions–IF ONE “DECLARED” PERSON DOESN’T MAKE IT–IT DOESN’T COUNT. As capabilities built–I didn’t have the expertise (or the time to attain it) to get to that level, so I ended up as the airplane procurer and pilot–while continuing to jump for fun. (I was always amazed that skydivers–opinionated as we are–rarely came down hard on a jumper that caused the entire attempt to not count) I was able to bring in DC-3s, Turbo Porters and Stallions, Twin Otters, and Skyvans (I made the first Skyvan jump in the US) for large-formation jumps.
A corollary quick story–we were building a 20-way (a big thing at the time) out of Skyvan from 13,500. Four previous attempts had (barely) missed–this one was going well UNTIL 4 EXTRA JUMPERS SHOWED UP! Where had THEY come from? It turned out that a Turbo 206 full of jumpers were coming in for “fun jumps” at the competition–the pilot heard the Skyvan talking to Center on the climb, so they “lurked” in rear echelon behind the Skyvan and jumped with the record attempt! How often would you find a skydiver in free-fall that was NOT ON YOUR LOAD? There was some short-term acrimony about the interlopers spoiling the attempt–but everyone settled down when they realized the irony of it.