Marty Lloyd is on the left in yellow, black and grey as skydivers exit planes for the record attempt. PHOTOS/FACEBOOK
Marty Lloyd from Wairarapa was one of the skydivers who linked up to form a 130-person formation more than 5000 metres in the air in Southern California on Tuesday.
“Marty was on the jump,” a spokesperson for the “Aussie Bigways” team told the Times-Age. “He was the 17th person to exit his plane, just to the right of the lead plane in the formation.”
Lloyd has updated his Facebook cover photo with a picture of the attempt, telling friends he is, “On the left, yellow, black and grey”.
The “130-way” freefall link-up is a new Australian record for large formation skydiving.
Seven aircraft were used to nail the record.
The men and women aged 19 to 74, had just over 65 seconds to link hands and build a complex formation, which had to be photographed to qualify for the official record.
They went to California because it has large oxygen-equipped planes, expert formation pilots and coaches.
Success came on a sixth attempt during a four-day camp.
Skydiving is more than just a hobby for Lloyd who owns and operates Masterton Aerodrome’s Skydive Wellington which takes passengers for tandem skydives and provides skydive training.
