Did you know that our senior ballet instructor Miss Fleur is now a World Record Holder!
Not only does Fleur teach ballet to a senior level, she also instructs people how to jump out of planes! – Not for the fainthearted!
She recently joined 63 other women from 21 countries and jumped from 16,500 ft. setting a world skydiving record in Southern California. They were also supported by an additional group of jumpers in case they needed to make personnel changes.
Watch now!
Further details supplied by Fleur 🙂
What makes this unique and challenging?
Every single jumper in the formation needed to break their grips simultaneously and pick up new ones to create 2 separate formations, playing a game of 3D chess at 120 mph
How was it planned?
The organizers took over a year planning the logistics and selecting the team including a bench. Participants were required to submit an application and references and the team was selected from a group of current and former world record holders, competitors and big way jumpers.
What were the weather conditions?
Temperatures on the ground reached 100+ degrees every day. Meanwhile the temperature at exit altitude was in the mid 40’s requiring us to wear layers under our jumpsuits.
How many tries did it take?
We had 17 jumps planned over 4 days. On the first day we made 4 jumps where our goal was to work out the kinks in the airplane formation, exit timing, base exit, the jumpers docking on the base and allow everyone to get a sense of timing, traffic and view of their quadrant. We made the record on the 3rd day on the 13th jump of the event and the 9th attempt.
How did you get that many people in the air at the same time?
4 planes – 2 Twin otters with side doors and 2 Skyvans with tailgates flew in an incredibly tight formation allowing us to be as close as possible to each other on exit.
Why did you need oxygen?
We exited at 18,000 MSL which is 16,500 above ground level requiring us to use oxygen.
How did everyone know when to leave the airplane?
The jumpers were given a 2 minute warning prior to exit. A red light in the airplane signaled we had 1 minute and a green light signaled us to have the floaters climb out and everyone else to line up to exit. The exit was started by a jumper called a “super floater” leaving the lead aircraft slightly before the base which you see in the pictures coming out of the airplane in a chunk. This triggered all other jumpers to begin exiting aircraft.
How did you all get together if you left at different times?
The gap between the first person exiting and the last was several seconds creating a significant vertical gap. Jumpers who excited early needed to change their body position to “float” or fall slower. The latest divers had to go into head down positions to fall faster and catch up with the formation.
How did you coordinate the movement from one formation to the next?
The transition from one point to the next was initiated by the release of a streamer attached to the wrist of a jumper in the base.
How did you know when to leave and open your parachutes?
Everyone wore altimeters on their arms to monitor altitude as well as audible altimeters in their helmets set to go off at specific altitudes to make sure we left on time. In addition the base jumpers kicked their feet.
How did you not run into each other?
The final separation of the jumpers at the end of the formation was triggered at 6500 feet when the first outside group tracked away. Landing direction was dictated by the ground crew with bright orange arrows on the ground. We followed a pattern and had specific ground quadrants to land in to avoid collisions.
How was it judged?
Each jump included 3 fantastic videographers exiting different planes. The videos were used to debrief every jump and make changes to ensure the safety and success of the jump and provide the proof to the judges. Photos on this post are from a number of women on the jump.
Videographers: Xian Cam Xtreme Media, Bruno Brokken, Daniel Angulo
3 on site judges and 1 off site judge reviewed the video and checked all of the grips and the separation.
They then certified the world record to the Federal Aeronautique Internationale.
Congratulations! We are so proud
