We were very excited to visit the World Team in Udon Thani (Northern Thailand) this month… I was also very honoured to jump with Air Marshal Chulamokha during his re-training.
Apart from the 5 Hercules aircraft which were running all day long for the 400 Way World Record attempt, we also had a Fiat G222 (kind of like a mini Hercules) and a BT-67 (a souped up DC-3).
The amount of cannopies in the air at one time was an amazing site to behold, as was the sound as all 400+ skydivers opened their parachutes in quick succession in the clear blue skies of Thailand.
All too soon the hard work, which seemed like fun, in Udon Thani was over, the record had been broken, and we all headed to Bangkok for the next challenge.
For the 2006 event, international parachutists from 40+ nations participated in the World Record Mass Freefall Jump. The Thai parachutists were primarily from the Royal Thai Armed Forces – Air Force, Army, Navy, and Police – but a few Thai civilian parachutists jumped as well. I counted myself as one of them as Thailand is my home now. World Team provided approximately half of the total participants.
The Royal Thai Air Force was responsible for providing all the aircraft support for the parachutists who jumped on the world record. To lift all 960 parachutists, the RTAF flew seven of their C-130s, one Fiat G-222 and two BT-67 (turbo-prop C-47s), and were joined by another C-130 provided by the Singapore Armed Forces. On the actual jump, the aircraft flew in a loose in-line formation at an altitude of 6600 feet, spaced approximately 90 seconds between aircraft. When each aircraft reached the exit point over Suvarnabhumi Airport, the parachutists jumped from the tailgates of the C-130s and G-222s in lines of 4-abreast, and exited the BT-67s in single file.
After freefalling for approximately 10 seconds, each parachutist opened his or her parachute and started gliding to the Landing Zone. By the time each successive aircraft full of parachutists had jumped, the group in front of them had glided their chutes to a point well below the opening altitude of the group behind. Layers of hundreds of parachutes filled the sky for about 15 minutes. The Landing Zone consisted of the huge grass infield between the airport runways.
After the mass freefall jump, the Royal Thai Air Force made a low pass in tight formation with all aircraft that were involved in the new world record. Following this, there was air show for all the spectators.
We also sang the National Anthem and dedicated the World Record to the King of Thailand on his 60th anniversary.
