New Skydiving Formation Record

It took perfect coordination, incredible teamwork and a lot of mutual trust and respect - but they did it. Last November, one hundred skydivers came together to form a spectacular 'diamond' in the sky, dazzling the people of Lake Water, Florida

The whole event starting from the first jump to the last skydiver hitting the ground safely, lasted exactly eleven minutes and 30 seconds. The formation itself lasted only 12 seconds, but it was enough to break the last 'canopy' formation record by eight-five skydivers.

Using specially designed aerodynamic parachutes, the skydivers arrived in five separate airplanes. Every two minutes, one plane would offload its passengers who would get into formation.

It took Brian Pangburn, who organized and participated in the event seven years to plan the event. His most difficult task was to find skilled skydivers. In the end, he managed to bring together a truly global team, which included skydivers from America, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Russia, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Egypt, Argentina and Canada.

The canopy or diamond formation is considered one of the most difficult in the sport of skydiving and is done by only 5% of all skydivers in the World. It requires the divers to not only get real close to one another but also to grip or 'dock' onto each others' parachutes. If one person slips, it could result in all of them crashing with each other and plummeting from an altitude of over 4,000 feet.

Breaking the canopy, which is known as 'starburst' is also very tricky. It starts with the divers at the edge of the canopy breaking off first and then continues until all of them are safely on the ground.

The video below filmed by famous videographer Norman Kent, was taken live while Norman was skydiving as part of the formation. Simply amazing isn't it?

Source: Dailymail.co.uk