Home / Records
X

New record - 36-way 10/9/2006 Langar

Pete Shew Billy Payn Eddie McBride Bob Connell Caroline O`Hagan Pete Knight Roger Bancroft Jim Bradwell Jill Riley Mark Wilson Andy Page Lin Brazier Simon Lovenbury Henry Thompson Mark Longhurst Keith Toyer John Knight Fran Cheetham Angela Hickling Ron Wands Brian Laithwaite Paul French Dean Radley Charlie Bazley Helen Vernon Dave Bentley Guy Dickson Simon Pollard Mark Dyson Paul Rowe Pete Stone Tony Bradbury Keith Johnson Neil Butcher Elaine Cherry Glenn Birchall

Photograph by Brian Knight. Mouse over to see names.
POPS 33 way video
POPS 36 way video
Videos by Brian Knight, Jim Bradwell, Eddie McBride and Dédric.

The first weekend on the Langar Boogie and a good weather forecast was the setting for this year's POPS big way record attempt. At 8:30 on the 9th of September, a group of thirty three POPS gathered for the initial briefing and allocation of slots and planes.

 The first jumps were 33-ways from the Shorts Skyvan and Cessna Caravan and were looking good but with a few minor problems. For jumps three and four we split into two groups to tighten up on some aspects, but with both groups using both planes.

The fifth jump on Saturday saw the 33-way back together and this time it went like a dream. Everyone flew smoothly into their slots and docked for a seven second hold of the new 33 way POPS record.

After the euphoria and partying on Saturday night, it was perhaps surprising that there were now 36 POPS waiting for the mist to clear at 9:00 on Sunday morning. This time we took two Skyvans to 13,500 ft and made another excellent dive resulting in yet another record.

Drumming up local support we then tried a 40-way, but the pressure of the "magic number" seems to have got to a few people and there was some "nervous" flying and although it looked like it might build for a while it wasn't to be. Still, we need a challenge for next year.

POPS UK is now currently second to the USA in size of its national record. The previous record of 27 was less than the Aussies' 32. We also hold the European record.

Thanks to Brian Knight as our video man all weekend, and to Pete Knight and Billy Payn for the work they have put in arranging coaching weekends and the tunnel camp, all of which contributed to the success of the weekend.

The pilots also did an excellent job of formation flying, though one of the scariest sights is to open the Skyvan tailgate to find it full of a Caravan or the other Skyvan.

Thanks also to those supporting POPS who were there for the weekend, but didn't make it on to the record dive.

Pete Shew POPS 478

Formation

An annotated graphic of the formation can be found HERE. It was built around a six way base with six zipper pairs. Four of the zippers had anchors and whackers. Pete Knight as B4 had a streamer attached to his leg to give line of flight orientation.

Lead Skyvan G-BEOL

Name Slot POPS # Name Slot POPS #
Dave Bentley W2A 743 Lin Brazier B3 889
Fran Cheetham Z6 844 Bob Connell Z11 808
Paul French Z10 608 Angela Hickling Z7 976
John Knight Z5 53 Pete Knight B4 875
Brian Laithwaite Z9 907 Mark Longhurst Z3 970
Simon Lovenbury B5 874 Eddie McBride Z1 905
Andy Page B2 878 Billy Payn B1 761
Dean Radley A2 967 Pete Shew Z12 478
Henry Thompson B6 908 Keith Toyer Z4 693
Ron Wands Z8 765 Mark Wilson Z2 964

Video - Brian Knight

Trail Skyvan G-PIGY ("Miss Piggy")

Name Slot POPS # Name Slot POPS #
Roger Bancroft A1 748 Charlie Bazley A3 883
Glenn Birchall W4D 891 Tony Bradbury W3D 690
Jim Bradwell W1C 848 Neil Butcher W4B 969
Elaine Cherry W4C 915 Guy Dickson W2B 978
Mark Dyson W3A 910 Keith Johnson W4A 862
Caroline O`Hagan W1A 467 Simon Pollard W2C 975
Jill Riley W1B 974 Paul Rowe W3B(25) 963
Pete Stone W3C 871 Helen Vernon A4 968

Video - Dédric

Statistics

  • Total number of jumps of participants - 51022
  • Average number of jumps - 1506
  • Total age of the formation - 1854 years
  • Average age - 52
  • Oldest - John Knight, 69
  • Youngest - Paul Rowe, 40

Shew & Son

Web site by Pete Shew