Setting a world record in free-flying

Freefly skydiving formations began their journey in 1999 and have come a long way since. In this photo gallery, we’ve had the privilege of documenting a new and breathtaking era into the evolution of this skydiving discipline. The photos were taken during world record attempts in the UAE and jumping from a C130 airplane.

Before this discipline came about, all formations where build with belly flyers, meaning that all jumpers where on a belly to earth position, with free fall speeds averaging 120 mph, in Freefly formations all jumpers are in a head-down position averaging free fall speeds of 150 mph, making it much more technical for the Flyers ability, and shorter freefall time to complete the formation.

Having the right idea:

Freefly skydiving isn’t just about learning to fly head up and head down, it’s tridimensional. As your skills improve you will realize that you can use all angles and positions between head up and head down. Once you are proficient on your back, belly, feet, and head, you will see that everything flows together and you end up moving in between these positions with ease.

To get to this stage you need to have a solid base in all these positions and an understanding of what the air is doing to your body. Too many people, especially now that free-flying is becoming so popular, go straight to head up flying after AFF and quickly move to head-down. The majority of these people are limiting themselves in the future and will find that they have to go back and learn basic belly flying and back flying to progress any further.