FAI ratifies 104-way canopy formation world record

The World Air Sports Federation (FAI) has ratified the world record set on 22 November 2025 over Jump Florida Skydiving Centre in Lake Wales, Florida. One hundred and four people linked under open parachutes into a single formation, the largest ever built. FAI announced the ratification on 31 July 2026.

In canopy formation, also called CRW (canopy relative work), skydivers connect only after their parachutes are open. Each one takes hold of a neighbour's lines or front riser with a hand or a leg, and row by row a multi-storey structure of fabric and people grows in the sky.

In brief

• 104 people from 20 countries, including Poland; the formation was held for 20 seconds
• the build took about 11 minutes 15 seconds and succeeded on the eleventh attempt
• the previous record, a 100-way from 2007, stood for 18 years

Eight aircraft, five altitudes

According to FAI, eight aircraft carried the participants. The first nine, the base of the formation, exited at 19,500 feet (about 5,900 m). Further groups followed from 18,000, 15,000, 12,500 and 12,000 feet, that is from roughly 5,500 m down to 3,700 m. The formation was completed on the eleventh attempt after a build of about 11 minutes 15 seconds and held for 20 seconds. Six aerial camera flyers filmed it.

One of the organisers, Yuliya Pangburn, described the camp in Skydive Mag. The list held 132 invited jumpers from 20 countries, and the original goal was a 107-way. The base jumpers flew in the first aircraft with oxygen bottles and masks. The build had to be finished before the formation broke apart at 3,500 feet (about 1,070 m), so that everyone had time to separate and land safely.

The jumper leading the formation flew a Performance Designs Spectre, the next three flew Lightnings with thin microline lines, and the rest flew standard CRW Lightnings. The organisers also say that, for the first time in CRW, the formation broadcast its position and altitude through an ADS-B Out transponder, and Miami air traffic control followed it on radar. At the same camp, on 12–14 November, women set three world records in the female category, according to the organisers.

A plan, a grip and three judges

Building the shape is not the end of it. The FAI Sporting Code (Section 5, 2026 edition) classes the largest canopy formation as a performance record, and the result is the number of people in one formation. The team must submit a written plan of the formation and a list of participants to the judges in advance. Together with camera flyers and alternates, it may not exceed 120 per cent of the formation size.

The completed formation must match the plan and consist only of the declared people. Every one of them must be connected to the rest by at least one grip. The canopy formation competition rules define a grip as a hand hold on an A line or front riser, or contact with the A line from behind with the front of the lower leg or ankle.

Judges evaluate and certify the record: as many as the competition rules require, or three, at least two of whom must be FAI judges. At least one must be present on site. The record claim must include a video or photograph of the formation. Every participant must hold a valid FAI Sporting Licence, and for the largest formation record the licences may come from different countries.

The organisers' account shows how that rule works in practice. On the morning of Saturday 22 November they declared a 104-way attempt to the judges and built it on the first jump of the day. On Sunday they declared 111 people, and the formation grew to 106 before time ran out. The organisers call it the largest CRW formation ever flown, but it has no FAI recognition. The rule is clear on this point: only a formation completed according to the declared plan counts.

Eighteen years after the 100-way

The previous record, a 100-way diamond, was built on 21 November 2007 over the same drop zone, then operating as Florida Skydiving Center. According to the International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame, the jumpers came from 14 countries, the build took about 11.5 minutes and the formation was held for 12 seconds, on the fifth attempt.

Before that, the world record stood at 46 people, set in 1994. The project that led to the 100-way built 64-way and 70-way formations in 2003, then 81-way and 85-way formations in 2005. The museum also reports that 23 of the jumpers on the 2025 record had flown in the 2007 formation.