Nearly a decade after the last 200-way belly formation, the bigway scene is roaring back to life. This summer, Skydive Chicago will host an ambitious 250-way state record attempt bringing together decades of legacy, lessons from past records, and a new generation of flyers ready to rise. Here’s how we got here.
The 250-way Record Attempt
So how does a belly flyer develop the skills to get invited or accepted onto a Megaway? The cool thing about skydiving is that we all start at the same place—the newbie skydiver with dreams of doing their first 8-way, first 20-way, first 2-plane formation load, and then making the jump to 60, 80, or 100+ ways.
Being a competitive belly flyer in 4-, 8-, or 16-way and honing those skills is a big factor in performance during bigways. The confidence and expanded vision gained from doing a lot of 16- or 20-way is a huge plus.
Photo by Gustavo Cabana
Don’t Forget the Tunnel – and To Track
We have to talk about tunnels. They’ve been a game changer for both belly and free flyers. But you can’t track in a tunnel. One of the most dangerous parts of big formation skydiving is tracking away and safely deploying our lifesaving devices.
Track like your life depends on it… because it does!
I like to view every jump as both a tracking jump and an accuracy jump. Everything else is fun, but those two skills are essential for a long skydiving career.
The Feeling of Flying Together
When a bigway belly formation isn’t going well, there can be waves, pushing and pulling, or entire sectors that funnel out. But when the group gets dialed in, the formation is flat, quiet, and seems effortless. There’s an almost electric feeling of connecting together that everyone feels.
It’s a very special sense of accomplishment, but it’s not easy. A 100-way isn’t easy for the simple reason that for approximately 70 seconds, every single person must fly their best and be perfect.
At these events, the first two days are typically base and sector warm-up practice. Then, on day three, the entire group comes together—but not everyone is given permission to dock on the first few jumps. Now you’re halfway through the event and the real attempts begin. Everyone needs to be perfect.
We can’t play the whack-a-mole game, we don’t have 250 attempts so that each person gets one mistake. This is where it becomes tough for both the organizers and participants when changes or cuts are made.
Advice from a Veteran Bigway Flyer
This August at Skydive Chicago is going to be EPIC! I’m just as excited to watch the head-down flyers build their 200-way from the ground as I am to do my part to make the belly 250-way a success. I believe many belly flyers are only recently doing their first 100-ways. As a 20+ year bigway belly flyer, here’s my advice:
Be confident. Fly your piece of the pie. All those other skydivers in that massive formation are just noise. Focus on where you need to be and who’s immediately around you. Bad things will happen if you take your eyes off the base. I know from experience! Fly in the middle of your range using all the tools you need—whether that’s a faster or slower jumpsuit, weights, sleeves, webbed gloves, or a T-shirt or sweater over your suit.
And above all, enjoy the journey. Sure, a record will be nice. But it’s the journey getting there that gives us the amazing memories.
