The Royal Sky Diamond Jubilee 2006

"450 World team sky divers to set new world records in Thailand"
Throughout 2006, Thailand celebrates the auspicious occasion of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 60th Anniversary or the Diamond Jubilee of His Majesty’s Accession to the Throne.

An inspiration to his subjects, and highly respected by world leaders around the globe, the King of Thailand, the ninth ruler of the Royal House of Chakri and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history, is the world’s longest reigning, living monarch.

Date:
-January 30 - February 9, 2006, at Udon Thani, Thailand
-February 11, 2006 at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand

An amazing story of cooperation

"These next few weeks will demonstrate the spirit of uncommon imagination and international cooperation toward a common goal, culminating in two world records." -- Kevin Gibson, World Team

The World Team '06 - Royal Sky Celebration is a collaborative effort by the Royal Thai Armed Forces and World Team, a highly skilled international team of skydivers, camera flyers, pilots, judges, and support personnel from around the world who have established multiple world records since the team's genesis in 1994. World Team '06 and the Royal Thai Air Force plan to achieve two new world records to honor His Majesty during the Royal Sky Celebration in 2006.

The first will be to break World Team's own current Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Largest Freefall Formation record, with 400 skydivers linked together thousands of feet above Udon Thani.

The second will be 960 parachutists conducting the Largest Mass Freefall Jump for the inauguration of Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport. A total of 700 freefalling sportsmen and women will join 260 paratroopers representing all services of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, to set this amazing new Guinness Book World Record.

In addition to pursuing sporting achievements, World Team strives to enhance global knowledge and interaction between its own culturally-diverse team members—who themselves represent 40+ nations—and its host nation. During the past eight years, World Team has forged an enduring relationship with the Kingdom of Thailand and its people.

The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has a long and colorful history in support of international skydiving events. In addition to the many skydiving festivals that have taken place at RTAF bases over the years, the RTAF was the significant force in developing and supporting the first Royal Sky Celebration in 1999 – both on the ground and in the air.

The RTAF, especially its air crews, are vital members of World Team. Without their precise skills of flying aircraft in tight formation at high altitudes, it would not be possible for World Team to make large formation world record skydives.
Five years after the first Royal Sky Celebration, the RTAF pilots again pushed the envelope with the World Team skydivers.

On their first jump in five days, World Team set a new world record by successfully linking 357 skydivers in freefall. This record still stands today in the FAI and Guinness record books.

Joining forces for a final Royal Sky Celebration, World Team and the Royal Thai Air Force are meeting again in 2006 to raise the bar on their joint aerial exploits.

The RTAF will become the first air crews in the world to drop skydivers while flying five C-130s in tight formation at high altitude. World Team requires five C-130s to be able to launch 400 skydivers quickly enough so they can all link together in freefall to build the world’s largest freefall formation.

In honor of His Majesty the King and the citizens of Thailand, the color pattern of the formation has been designed to precisely match the color pattern of the Thai flag. If the Thai flag is drawn together between the top centre and bottom centre, and is then fanned out to form a circle, it looks remarkably like the color pattern of the formation.
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