On March 17, 16 jumpers at Skydive Spaceland near Houston, Texas, joined an elite club—that of U.S. National and Texas State Record holders—by skydiving from 22,250 feet. These jumpers, informally being called the Four-Mile-High Club, now hold among them five high-altitude skydiving records including the following:
- National Records: Feminine and Collegiate Skydivers
- Texas State Records: General, Feminine, and Collegiate Skydivers
After a thorough high-altitude/oxygen safety briefing by U.S. National Judge Randy Connell, the mixed Otter load of belly flyers, freeflyers, and wingsuit flyers exited among scenic scattered high, puffy clouds for freefalls of two to four minutes (the latter for two very tired wingsuiters).
Some of the jumpers now hold multiple records, with the ladies listed below holding both national and state records in the general/feminine categories, and two female college students holding all five (Kristin Nicole Singleton and Robin Williams).
The high-altitude records followed another National and Texas State Record set at Spaceland only two weeks earlier (March 3). The earlier record jump was the first head-up large formation record set in the new head-up flying category. Organized by Simon “Bones” Palacio, seven sit flyers built a challenging seven-way sit-flying formation on their second attempt. Despite the group’s success, Palacio continues to strive for a larger formation that will be tougher to beat.
Congratulations to the new record holders, and look for more record-setting news from Skydive Spaceland in the near future!
More information:
High-Altitude Record Holders
National/Texas State Record High-Altitude (Feminine)
- Sheryl Clarke
- Jen Garvin
- Kristin Singleton
- Tracey Sullivan
- Robin Williams
National/Texas State Record High-Altitude (Collegiate)
- Brian McWilliams
- Kristin Singleton
- Robin Williams
Texas State Record High-Altitude (General)
- Sheryl Clarke
- Randy Connell
- Jen Garvin
- Jeff Holzaepfel
- Jeff Hunkele
- Jonathan Leach
- Oscar Madrid
- Brian McWilliams
- Brian Menard
- Ben Nelson
- Anthony Seelig
- Kristin Singleton
- Bart Stonestreet
- Tracey Sullivan
- Matt Tinley
- Robin Williams
Head-Up Record Holders
- Simon “Bones” Palacio
- Penelope Howe
- Steve Vogdes
- Scott Cook
- Chad Jennings
- Matt Jones
- David Schwartz