World Team '11 Skydives

Formation Size

Just so it is very clear from the beginning of this journey... World Team will not decide on the size of its record formation for 2011 until after carefully evaluating the sequential / rehearsal dives that take place during the World Team event in January 2010. If it’s safe and practical, 500 is a nice round number and is a very enticing goal. This is World Team's ultimate target. 

If the 2010 jumps in Udon Thani indicate that 500 is not a practical or safe goal, World Team's record formation size and design will be adjusted accordingly.

As a demonstration of confidence in the World Team Game Plan and positive thinking by the World Team Leaders, all references to the 2011 world record formation in World Team publications will be 500, unless/until there is a reason to change this number.

Building a Better Mousetrap

On that spectacular jump in 2006 when World Team built the 400-way world record, most of the allotted freefall time was used up and the hold-time for the completed formation was minimal. So, to build a significantly larger formation, World Team must significantly improve its efficiency wherever possible.

Use More Aircraft?  No, it's just not possible.  The Royal Thai Air Force generously accommodated World Team’s aircraft requests in 2006. Air Chief Marshal Sommai’s command decision to approve five C-130s definitely helped World Team set the new world record. However, this level of support strained normal Air Force operations.

The RTAF is prepared to match its support for this new FAI record attempt, but World Team will be limited to a maximum of five aircraft. No doubt, having access to five C-130s flying in formation is a dream-come-true, but when you are talking about five hundred skydivers, each of those aircraft will be jammed full and be slow to empty. The improvement in World Team’s efficiency will have to come from somewhere else.

Design a Faster-Building Formation?  Absolutely.  Dive Director BJ Worth and AutoCAD wiz Rags Raghanti have collaborated to design a more efficient formation for World Team’s upcoming record attempt. This new formation utilizes the best elements of the 400-way design and eliminates its more troublesome ones.

Base: There are some significant improvements with the Base. It is smaller (60-way), so it can be completed more quickly. It has a large blowhole (12-way star), so it will fall faster. There is a row of slot-flakers, so it should hold its shape well. The pesky loops have been replaced with small whackers to decrease tension and provide earlier slots for the anchors of the whacker sectors. In addition to all of these improvements, the Base-60 will make rehearsal jumps prior to arriving in Thailand.

Reasons why the actual 500-way dives could be more efficient:

1. More whacker lines will allow more people to dock simultaneously
2. Shorter whacker lines will allow whackers to complete more quickly, be more stable
3. Base design (no loops) will allow less waiting before the whackers can start to dock
4. Base design (large blowhole) will allow faster fall rate to be maintained
5. A more efficient break-off plan could allow for a break-off altitude similar to the 400-way
6. Better oxygen saturation will allow skydivers to function more effectively in freefall

Reasons why the actual 500-way dives could be less efficient:

1. Less space between whackers requires more precise flying
2. More whacker lines per sector requires more precise flying
3. Longer dives could lengthen the time for the late divers to reach formation
4. Using more hi-tech equipment could increase risk for aborted jumps
5. More people in the sky could lead to more personal airspace conflicts