28-way

[cpoxon 0]

This weekend I took part in a really fun 28-way competition. This is the second year that the competition has been run (I didn't take part last year) and it does seem to have captured people's interest somewhat. We have two dropzones in the UK that have the capability to have two 15-place turbine aircraft on site (one has Grand Caravans and the other has Dornier G-92s). This gives the great opportunity for doing 28-way sequential formation dives with a cameraperson on each aircraft. Despite the availability of turbine aircraft, multiple ones even, on UK dropzones, formation loads are still a bit of a novelty so doing a fun competition with the added bonus of formation loads seems quite appealing. We had three teams this year. You can have a look at the dive pool. The scoring system is a bit wacky, with a point for every person in plus a bonus of 15 points for every complete formation with all 28 people in! This led to some massive scores! All three teams completed 5 out of the 6 rounds on Saturday, with one team completing all six. The competition was called on Sunday, with no further jumps completed due to poor weather.

I really enjoyed the competition, especially the fifth round, which had an inter of two 14-way opposed zippers with pod type things (anyone got a better name?) turning 180 degrees, which was awesome! The level of experience on the group varied from a few hundred jumps to a few thousand. I must admit that I thought it would end up in a huge funnel, but everyone took it slowly, easy and worked on the levels and it succeeded! Everyone was buzzing after that jump! You can see video of it here and I have put a larger, higher-quality version on skydivingmovies.com

Edited to add: standard exit altitude at this dropzone is 15,000 feet, which makes doing formation loads a little easier with a bit more time!

Official website

Pictures from the official website

Dave Lewis' (competition organiser and captain of winning team, Herding Cats) website

Thanks to Dave Lewis and the other team captains for organising. Thanks to Hibaldstow for hosting, and providing a Skyvan to replace the broken G92. And thanks to my awesome Herding Cats teammates!

Anybody else doing anything like this or done it before (found this old video of a Roger Ponce de Leon organised 28-way at Pepperell in 1993!)? Does this inspire anyone to do anything similar? Any other UK teams want to take part next year?!

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[borgy 0]

That block move is unreal, nice work

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[flyangel2 2]

Is it just me, or is that video really bad? I can't tell if it's a Roger jump or what

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[BigSky 2]

Oh my god that looks like fun! Nice work
I do have one question though. It is probably a nob question but it pertains to the thread.

When moving a big block like that is everyone trying to turn or only a couple of designated people?

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[Remster 30]

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Is it just me, or is that video really bad? I can't tell if it's a Roger jump or what

Which one Mar? The small version, the large one on sdm.com, or the old Roger one? The small and large versions are just fine on my PC.

And Craig: sweet jump! Wanna make it international?

Remster

[flyangel2 2]

The old one with Roger. The other videos ran fine on my laptop.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[strollerweb 0]

It was the Roger Ponce video that was the inspiration for round 5 (good old Google) although I changed it from loops to zippers off the 8way base to give it a bit more stability.

International! That would be cool

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[cpoxon 0]

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And Craig: sweet jump! Wanna make it international?

You'd have to ask Dave Lewis! Don't see why not though, if you can get comparable multiple aircraft (i.e. exit configuration, load capacity) as well as a synchronised exit altitude. Would Eloy be happy taking two Otters to 15k for the purpose of competing against Brits? I'm sure there would be people willing to take the extra slots on an Otter (compared with the 15 place Dornier G-92) going to 15k! How many does an Eloy Otter take? 20/22? Could do a little 10/12 way formation dive of their own.

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[bob.dino 1]

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International! That would be cool

Bring it! I'd be happy to coordinate the Sydney end (ie, hassle someone more experienced than I into doing the organising ).

[bob.dino 1]

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Don't see why not though, if you can get comparable multiple aircraft (i.e. exit configuration, load capacity) as well as a synchronised exit altitude.

Make it a Skyvan and an Otter (or XL) and we can do that at Picton. Synchronising exit altitudes could be hard - I don't know if we can go above 14k MSL. How about just limiting the working time to 45 or 50 sec?

[cpoxon 0]

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Make it a Skyvan and an Otter (or XL) and we can do that at Picton. Synchronising exit altitudes could be hard - I don't know if we can go above 14k MSL. How about just limiting the working time to 45 or 50 sec?

So you only want to change the aircraft, the exit altitude and the working time?! You can see why we called our team Herding Cats now!

Seriously though, we only used a Skyvan this year because one of the G92s broke - normally it would be from two of the same type aircraft. If one dropzone had a tailgate but the others didn't that would be unfair. Also it would be unfair if the aircraft had wildly different C of G limits that would affect the exit. The Otter and the G92 are similar in that effectively they have no limit, whereas Caravans do. How is the XL for C of G? I'm assuming that's the PAC 750XL? We do have a couple of those in the UK, but unfortunately they are at different dropzones. We have a DZ with two Nomads in this country but they are only 14-place so that would mean ground-to-air video :-P plus they are at a tandem factory.

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[bob.dino 1]

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How is the XL for C of G? I'm assuming that's the PAC 750XL?

Yep, the PAC 750XL. As for CG, it's touchy. Realistically, you'd probably not put more than 10-12 in it, and have everyone else exit from the other plane.

I think you might find it tricky to organise a multi-country comp where everyone uses exactly the same aircraft.