posted May 25th, 2011 - The NSL News story on 26 March 2011 included an update of the Dubai 500 project. Dan BC provided an overview of the current situation on his side.

The same story mentioned that BJ Worth is also on the road to a new big-way world record with his World Team. He is gathering his international big-way experts who have been setting world records with him several times in the past.

The NSL News followed up with a big-way story when BJ and many World Team members visited DeLand for the Flight of the Phoenix and completed the challenging 192-way formation. BJ Worth said at that time that he was working on his own logistics for the new world record.

BJ Worth recently updated the NSL News after coming back from a trip to the Middle East. He had great news for the big-way fans, especially for the World Team members. He has secured the logistics for his own attempt and now offers officially the plans for a 444-way world record project. The race is on: Dubai 500 versus World Team.

This is not really true, of course not. There are many big-way fans who will participate in both events, and the leaders of both groups have a friendly relationship. However, there is always a natural rivalry when it comes to setting a new world record, and competition is always enhancing any performance. The competing projects will most likely make each participant and organizer work even harder to make it happen.

The National Skydiving League was under the impression that a live 100-way competition, as it happended at SkyQuest 2009, was a unique event and difficult enough to organize. Well, now there is a 500-way competition on the way. It has a different nature and is not a live event with not having both teams on site, but it is surely bigger...

BJ Worth had a 500-way in mind, as well, when he began to make new plans. He came back from the Middle East with a proposal of a 444-way, and his record attempt will be the first one. It is scheduled for 10 - 23 December 2012. Dan BC's Dubai 500 event is planned to take place in February/March 2013, an exact date has not been posted so far.

BJ Worth also brought more details from his recent trip. He said that the World Team has a green light to build the next world record in Doha, Qatar, using up to two C-17s and four C-130s. He also provided the diagram for the proposed 444-way formation, which is similar to the standing 400-way world record formation. The event date may accommodate the participants of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving and the Mondial 2012, which is hosted by Skydive Dubai. It could save time and travel costs for skydivers who would like to do both, as it immediately follows the IPC event in Dubai. BJ Worth announced the World Team record attempt officially with this press release:

Doha, Qatar 21 May 2011:

World Team takes great pleasure in announcing that the State of Qatar has invited the top skydivers of the international big-way community to participate in the next large formation world record project, to be organized by World Team in Qatar.

This World Team project will include multiple big-way events, culminating in a world record attempt with the tentative dates of 10-23 December 2012.

The Qatar Air Force will support this world record project with up to two C-17s flying lead and up to four C-130s flying trail.

"Jumping the Jet" is about to take on a whole new meaning! More details to follow soon.