Formation skydiving, traditionally called "relative work" (RW) or "group freefall", is a discipline of sport parachuting where two or more participants intentionally maneuver to close proximity with each other in freefall before separating and deploying their parachutes.USPA Skydivers Information Manual, p.162 5-1 A

History Formation skydiving started in California, US, during the 1960s. The first documented skydiving formation occurred over Arvin, California in March 1964 when Mitch Poteet, Don Henderson, Andy Keech and Lou Paproski successfully formed a 4-man star formation, photographed by Bob Buquor.

In 1967, the first 10-man star was formed over Taft, California, and the first 12-man formation was formed, also over Taft, in 1968. Jerry Bird participated in both of these record-breaking formations and in 1970 captained the United States Freefall Exhibition Team (USFET) which demonstrated formation skydiving at the 1970 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia. This led to formation skydiving becoming a recognized competition discipline in its own right.

In 1972, Bird organized a world record 24-man star formation over Perris Valley California. The jump was featured on the CBS program I've Got a Secret and in Life magazine.Life, February 4, 1972 Later (on June 16), Jerry Bird's All Stars won the Ten-Man Star event at the National Championships in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and Bird organized a world record 26-man star at the close of the 11th World Parachuting Championships, also at Tahlequah. During the 1980s and 1990s, Bird joined further record-breaking Big-ways formations: a 120-way at Quincy, Illinois in 1986; a 144-way diamond formation in August 1988, also over Quincy; a 246-way formation over Chicago in July 1998; and, in 1999, a 282-way formation in Thailand.

The current FAI world record for the largest free-fall formation is a 400-way, set on February 8, 2006, in Udon Thani, Thailand by the World Team.

Sub-categories

Formation skydiving can be further divided into several sub-categories, so named for the number of members in a team: 4-way sequential 4-way vertical sequential (VFS, Vertical Formation Skydiving) 8-way sequential 16-way sequential 10-way speed Large formations (Big-ways)

Competitive format

A competition in 4-way sequential formation skydiving (FS-4) takes place like this:

There are two kinds of formations, called randoms and blocks. The randoms are singular formations with full separation of all grips both before and after building the formation. The blocks are double formations with a special designated movement pattern in between, called an inter. The start formation may or may not be similar to the ending formation. The inters are differently performed. Here are some examples:

Inter 1: The grips are released between some of the flyers, so they become two pieces of two team members. They both do a 270° turn, and reconnect to a different formation.

Inter 2: Three people stay connected and do a 360° turn, while the last person flies alone.

Inter 15: All grips are released and everyone does a 360° turn back to the original formation.

Blocks are designated by numbers, while randoms get letters. Blocks are worth one point for each correct formation, which makes 2 points, and randoms count as 1 point. There are 22 blocks and 16 randoms.

Competition consists of up to 10 rounds, and each round consists of 5 or 6 points, which the teams are to repeat as many times as they can within the working time of 35 seconds. The score judging is based on the videographer's material.

A competition draw may look like this: 1: C-E-B-13 2: 14-20-8 3: 15-16-H 4: J-O-1-D 5: 6-18-19 6: 5-F-21 7: 10-K-G-M 8: 22-3-P 9: 12-9-4 10:11-17-Q

The winning team will be the team that has collected the most points, by completing the most correct formations within time after the final round is ended. In case of weather, technical problems, or other interruptions, a competition will be valid as long as all teams have completed at least one round.

A recent sub-category of formation skydiving is vertical formation skydiving (VFS). Skydivers build formations using higher-speed body positions normally associated with freeflying, such as head down and sitflying.

World record

Big-Way: The current FAI world record for largest free-fall formation is a 400-way, set on February 8, 2006, in Udon Thani, Thailand by the World Team. It was held for 4.3 seconds. With the support of the Thai government, they used five C-130 Hercules airplanes and exited from an altitude of 25,400 feet. In April 2013 the World Team tried to break the record for the largest 2-point formation dive in skydiving history. All 222 members came together and made a formation, broke apart, and then reformed to make a completely different formation. The team attempted the jump many times and came very close to breaking the record, but were unsuccessful each time. The World Team has not made anymore official statements about attempting the record again.

Longest sequence in one round: 4-Way Set by the Belgian team(NMP-PCH Hayabusa), at the World Meet 2018 in round 6, where they posted 62 points in working time (35 seconds) 8-Way Set by the U.S. (GKXP8) national team, at the World Meet 2024 , in round 9, where they posted 37 points in working time (50 seconds)

World championship Year Venue Airplane 4-Way Champion Points (avg) 8-Way Champion Points (avg) 4-Way Female Champion Points (avg) 4-Way Vertical Formation Points (avg) 1975 West Germany Warendorf United States 40/49.92* United States 100/163.85* Not Held Not Held 1977 Australia Gatton, Queensland Canada 73 (7.3) United States West Germany France 42 (4.2) Not Held Not Held 1979 France Châteauroux Canada 82 (8.2) United States 66 (6.6) Not Held Not Held 1981 United States Zephyrhills, Florida United States 116 (11.6) United States 83 (8.3) Not Held Not Held 1983 South Africa Sun City, North West

Switzerland 115 (11.5) United States 102 (10.2) Not Held Not Held 1985 Yugoslavia Mali Lošinj USA Canada France 118 (11.8) USA France Canada 120 (12.0) Not Held Not Held 1987 Brazil Foz do Iguacu France USAAustria 134 (13.4) USA France USSR 119 (13.2) (9 rd) Not Held Not Held 1989 Spain Gerona France USSR USA 152 (15.2) USA USSR France 138 (13.8) Not Held Not Held 1991 CzechoslovakiaLučenec Mil Mi-8 France USA Italy 171 (17.1) USA France USSR 181 (18.1) Not Held Not Held 1993 United States Eloy, Arizona DHC-6 Twin Otter France USA Denmark 195 (19.5) USA France Russia 169 (16.9) Not Held Not Held 1995 France Gap, Hautes-Alpes Pilatus PC-6 Porter USA France Denmark 207 (20.7) USA France Russia 195 (19.5) Not Held Not Held 1997 Turkey Efes CASA C-212 Aviocar USA FranceSouth Africa 210 (21.0) USA Russia France 224 (22.4) Not Held Not Held 1999 Australia Corowa DHC-6 Twin Otter France USA Norway 208 (20.8) USA Russia France 211 (21.1) Not Held Not Held 2001 Spain Granada CASA C-212 Aviocar USA France Norway 214 (21.4) Russia USA France 193 (19.3) USA Norway Sweden 147 (14.7) Not Held

2003 France Gap, Hautes-Alpes Pilatus PC-6 Porter France USA Norway 229 (22.9) Russia USA France 221 (20.9) (11 rd) Great Britain Norway USA 165 (16.5) Not Held 2004 Croatia Rijeka Mil Mi-8 USA France Russia 227 (22.7) USA France Russia 172 (19.1) (9 rd) USA France Russia 169 (16.9) Not Held 2006 Germany Gera DHC-6 Twin Otter USA France Italy 117 (23.4) (5 rd) France USA Russia 123 (20.5) (6 rd) Great Britain France Russia 95 (19.0) (5 rd) Not Held 2008 France Maubeuge Pilatus PC-6 Porter USA FranceBelgium 195 (24.4) (8 rd) France USA Italy 151 (21.6) (7 rd) Great Britain USA France 120 (20.0) (6 rd) Not Held 2010 Russia Menzelinsk L-410 Turbolet France USA Russia 277 (27.7) France USA Russia 203 (20.3) France Great Britain USA 236 (23.6) Not Held 2012 UAE Dubai DHC-6 Twin Otter USABelgiumFrance 279 (27.9) USAFranceRussia 229 (22.9) USAFranceNorway 207 (20.7) France UAEUSA 185 (23,1) (8 rd) 2014 Czech Republic Prostějov L-410 Turbolet Belgium USA Canada 264 (26.4) USARussiaFrance 216 (21.6) FranceUSAGreat Britain 214 (21.4) FranceUSACanada 179 (22,4) (8 rd) 2016 United States Chicago DHC-6 Twin Otter BelgiumUSAFrance 262 (26.2) USAFranceRussia 239 (23.9) USAFranceGreat Britain 224 (22.4) FranceCanadaUSA 168 (22.4) (8 rd) 2018 Australia Gold Coast, Queensland Cessna 208 Caravan BelgiumUSAFrance 279 (27.9) USA Russia Qatar 224 (22,4) FranceGreat BritainSweden 257 (25,7) USACanadaAustralia 217 (21,7) 2020(2021) Russia Kemerovo region L-410 Turbolet Belgium USA Qatar 193 (32,2) (6 rd) USA FranceRPF 166 (23,7) (7 rd) RPF FrancePoland 150 (25,0) (6 rd) USARPFItaly 143 (20,4) (7 rd) 2022 United States Eloy, Arizona DHC-6 Twin Otter USA Belgium Qata 261228219 USA Qatar Germany 205164131 Great Britain France USA 200189184 USA Australia Norway 212190140 2024 United States Crystal Coast, North Carolina DHC-6 Twin Otter USA France Qatar USA Qatar Germany USA China France USA Norway Italy

See also

Canopy formation

References