A big way is a type of
formation skydiving
Formation skydiving is a skydiving event where multiple skydivers attach themselves to one another by grabbing each other's limbs or by the use of "grippers" on their jumpsuit while free falling through the sky. The goal of this skydiving prog ...
involving a large group of skydivers coming together while in
freefall
In classical mechanics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it.
A freely falling object may not necessarily be falling down in the vertical direction. If the common definition of the word "fall" is used, ...
to form a specific and predetermined formation. All the skydivers involved aim to connect with each other and hold the complete formation for a designated period (a number of seconds).
A sequential skydive would involve multiple formations. Grips between individual skydivers can be on any part of the hand/arm or legs. The jumpsuits worn are specifically designed with handle-like grips to assist.
There is a lot of behind the scenes work prior to organization of any big way event. This includes not only the invitation of individual skydivers, but also the coordination of aircraft, pilots, freefall and ground cameras as well as all support and ground staff.
Size
The number of skydivers needed for a formation skydive to be considered a "big way" is often a contentious issue. It often depends on what is considered normal at each
dropzone
''Dropzone'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Archer Maclean (under the name Arena Graphics) for Atari 8-bit computers and published in 1984 by U.S. Gold. It was ported to the Commodore 64, and later released for the Nintendo Ent ...
. For a small dropzone operating only a small
Cessna
Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...
aircraft that seats 5 people, anything over 5 may be considered "big". However, for dropzones with aircraft that take more people, 6 would be considered small. There are courses available for skydivers to train to jump on formations of 100 or greater.
The largest formation ever built was the 400-way created and held over
Udon Thani
Udon Thani (, ) is a city in Isan ( Northeast Thailand), the capital of Udon Thani Province and the sixth largest city in Thailand. The city municipality (''thesaban nakhon'' / city proper) had a population of 130,531 people as of 2019, while Ud ...
,
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
on February 8, 2006.
[G-2 Parachuting, Performance Records. Large freefall formation]
". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The World Air Sports Federation (; FAI) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintains worl ...
(FAI). Accessed: 21 September 2014.
Locations
Big-way formation skydiving takes place all over the world, at many dropzones. For a large formation (fifty plus) the skydivers can be a group gathered from around the country, or in many cases the world, bringing together their expertise, extreme effort and drive to meet a challenge.
Team Awesome is an example of an international big-way skydiving club with members from many countries, traveling around the world to participate in big-way skydiving.
References
{{reflist, 1
Sports terminology