OTTAWA, Ill. — Falling at speeds of up to 355 kilometers an hour, nearly 140 skydivers have shattered the vertical skydiving world record, flying heads-down in a massive snowflake formation over Illinois. Three judges representing the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the international air sports agency, certified that 138 skydivers created the formation on Friday evening over Ottawa, about 130km southwest of Chicago. It took 15 attempts over three days for the team to break the previous record of 108 skydivers set in 2009. Skydivers travelled from all over the world to take part in the record attempt, including from Australia. Other featured nationalities included the UK, France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Italy and Belgium. Following months of planning, tryouts and camps to decide who could take part in the dangerous challenge, the record breakers squeezed into six aircraft and launched themselves into the air at 5640 meters. Four camera operators shooting video and stills jumped with the 138 participants to record their achievement for the FAI judges. Those images are key, said co-organizer Mike Swanson, a professional skydiver who base jumped from Willis Tower and its fellow Chicago skyscraper Trump Tower for the movie Transformers 3.
