Airman's jump helps shatter world record

Airman, March, 2004 by Erin Zagursky

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. -- A reservist assigned here joined skydivers from around the world last November to break the world record in canopy formation.

Lt. Col. Doug Strand of the Air Combat Command operations directorate helped set the final record with the world's first 70-person, canopy-formation flight over Lake Wales, Fla.

The previous record set by the European community in 1996 consisted of a 53-person formation.

CRW, pronounced as 'crew,' stands for canopy relative work and is the sport of maneuvering parachutes in flight to dock with another parachute. At the week-long event, the goal was to break the record with a 64-person formation, and then rotate everyone in the event through so they would all have a stake in the record.

Two successful 64-person jumps were completed first. The next day, jumpers broke their new world record with a 65-person jump only to break that record with the 70-person jump. Throughout the event, Strand made 20 jumps.

"CRW is very physically demanding, particularly on the upper body, and making so many jumps in such a short span took its toll on many," he said. "Up there in a canopy formation, it's beauty beyond belief, and we hold a connection not just with parachute material and lines, but a mental connection and synergy that one can't even begin to describe."

Erin Zagursky

1st Fighter Wing Public Affairs