General
”Perris CReW” made the first 8-way Soft Flight Kite in November. There were two canopies in a plane, single wings, another two canopies in a plane in the locking position and two single canopies below that.
In June, US jumpers made a stack formation on a Mr. Bill jump; there were four jumpers above two mains.
The first night diamond was done in June. ”Perris CReW” team held the formation for 1 minute and 55 seconds in CA, USA. It was a ”Rocket Diamond” – two canopies in a plane piloting, with single wings and a single tail.
The first 6-way offset formation was done in Perris Valley, CA. The Soft Flight Kite was built in September. A Soft Flight Kite has a plane, single wings and another plane in the tail. Soon after that they made a 7-way Soft Flight Kite, with another single canopy below the tail plane.
In June, team ”Dead Reckoning” made the first bi-plane diamond in Lakewood, NJ, USA.
Records and events
A 9-plane night European record was built in Netheravon, England in March. It was made by ”The Mountain Men”.
The first 8-way in Finland was built on May 23. That stack/plane was done in Helsinki and the last one in the formation was Jarmo ”Jarkki” Vuorio.
The jumpers in docking order were:
Hannu Havia
Jari Holopainen
Mika Ekström
Esa Mikkonen
Kari Niemi
Markku Puro
Hannu Leskinen
Jarmo Vuorio
The next day, they built a 9-stack/plane on a 10-way attempt.
Jumpers in the Nortwest, USA made a series of record attempts in June-July. They tied three times with the current record 14-plane (July 12. 15. and 17.). All jumps were made in Issaquah.
After the West Coast Championships of CRW in August, the competition jumpers made two record attempts. The better one was a 14-plane in Toledo, WA.
In September jumpers from Issaquah set a new record. The 15-plane was jumped from an old Curtiss and three Cessna airplanes.
On September 13, jumpers from Issaquah, WA made one record attempt and it was successful. A new record, a 17-plane, was complete. The jumpers held it for just over one minute. Again they needed to use several airplanes. This time they used five Cessnas.
In October 4, jumpers from Issaquah, WA made two 20-plane attempts. They managed to build a 15-plane.