Skydive Chicago near Ottawa will attempt world record

Two hundred highly-skilled skydivers from the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada and South America will be at Skydive Chicago, just outside of Ottawa, attempting to break the world record for down vertical skydivers.

The current record is 164.

Ten aircraft will carry the men and women Monday morning to 19,000 feet. After they jump, they’ll have only a minute to link together for the feat while plummeting at 180 mph to the ground.

To break the record, all 200 jumpers must carefully lock arms in a pre-assigned, intricate pattern (with no errors) before separating and filling the sky with 200 parachutes.

This record was attempted in 2018, but because of unfavorable weather conditions, the participants were unsuccessful. The last completed Vertical World Record was in 2015 when a crew built a 164-person head-down formation.

The last time 200 skydivers linked up was in 1998 when a 246-way was completed at Skydive Chicago. The difference between these two dives is substantial. The orientation of the 1998 dive was the traditional belly-to-earth style at about 120 mph. This record poses a significant challenge in the skydiver’s orientation is head-down at speeds of about 180 mph. This new record illustrates the sport’s progressions as skill sets, training and equipment have improved.