POPS Skydivers Break Illinois Record

By Marcelaine Wininger

OTTAWA, ILLINOIS - The POPS (Parachutists Over Phorty Society) grew up with Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones, and the Grateful Dead. They were the Bobby Sockers, Bee Boppers, Hippies, Flower Children, and the Yuppies. Now they've re-defined middle and old age by breaking at least three Illinois skydiving records and maybe a national record.

At Skydive Chicago, on Saturday, July 7, physically fit, fast, and focused, women and men, they climbed into two DeHaviland Twin Otters piloted by Roger Nelson, Herman Reinhold, and Steve Stewart, rode to about 14,000', climbed out, and flew their bodies in formation to create a skydiving formation of 37 skydivers over the age of forty. That formation broke the old record set at Skydive Chicago last year of 21 POPS who redesigned the formation 3 times (a 3 point skydive) before deploying their parachutes.

Nevertheless, they weren't satisfied. On Sunday morning they broke their own record they set the day before by linking 40 POPS in a one point skydiving formation over Ottawa. On the second jump of the day, they tied their own record. But then, on the third attempt, these skydivers from as far away as Canada, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Tennessee, and Washington accomplished an amazing thing. They linked 40 POPS and flew from one formation sequence to the next, completing a 40-way 3 point skydive.

According to organizers TJ Hine and Max Meijer, in addition to being a new Illinois record, it also may be a national record. The skydivers ranged in age from barely 40 to 65-years-of-age. Most of them have logged thousands of jumps and participated on several national and world records.

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