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Formation skydiving is a skydiving event where multiple skydivers attach themselves to one another by grabbing each other's limbs or by the use of "grippers" on their jumpsuit while free falling through the sky. The goal of this skydiving program is to build a formation of multiple divers arranged in a geometric pattern.
Formation skydiving can be further divided into several sub-categories, so named for the number of members in a team:
A competition in 4-way 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 degree 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 got letters. Blocks are worth one point for each correct formation, that 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 are based on the videographers material.
A competition draw may look like this:
The winning team will be the team that has collected most points, by completing the most correct formations within time after the final round is ended. In case of weather or technical problems, or other causes, a competition will be valid as long as all teams has 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.
The current FAI world record for largest free-fall formation is a 400-way, [1] set on February 8, 2006, in Udon Thani, Thailand by the World Team. [2] 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. [3] 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. [4]
Longest sequence in one round:
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)
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)
| 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 USA  Austria | 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 |  Czechoslovakia Lučenec | 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 France South 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 France  Belgium | 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 | USA Belgium France | 279 (27.9) | USA France Russia | 229 (22.9) | USA France Norway | 207 (20.7) | France UAE USA | 185 (23,1) (8 rd) |
| 2014 | Czech Republic Prostějov | L-410 Turbolet | Belgium USA Canada | 264 (26.4) | USA Russia France | 216 (21.6) | France USA Great Britain | 214 (21.4) | France USA Canada | 179 (22,4) (8 rd) |
| 2016 | United States Chicago | DHC-6 Twin Otter | Belgium USA France | 262 (26.2) | USA France Russia | 239 (23.9) | USA France Great Britain | 224 (22.4) | France Canada USA | 168 (22.4) (8 rd) |
| 2018 | Australia Gold Coast, Queensland | Cessna 208 Caravan | Belgium USA France | 279 (27.9) | USA Russia  Qatar | 224 (22,4) | France Great Britain Sweden | 257 (25,7) | USA Canada Australia | 217 (21,7) |
| 2020 (2021) | Russia Kemerovo region | L-410 Turbolet | Belgium USA Qatar | 193 (32,2) (6 rd) | USA France  RPF | 166 (23,7) (7 rd) | RPF France  Poland | 150 (25,0) (6 rd) | USA RPF Italy | 143 (20,4) (7 rd) |
| 2022 | United States Eloy, Arizona | DHC-6 Twin Otter | USA Belgium Qata | 261 228 219 | USA Qatar Germany | 205 164 131 | Great Britain France USA | 200 189 184 | USA Australia Norway | 212 190 140 |
| 2024 | United States Crystal Coast, North Carolina | DHC-6 Twin Otter | USA France Qatar | USA Qatar Germany | USA  China France | USA Norway Italy | ||||
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