Talk:Speed skydiving

Request to add 1999 Orlando Sentinel historical record reference

I have a conflict of interest: I am Roberto Franceschetti, the person mentioned in the source below. I am not editing the article directly and am requesting review by an uninvolved editor.

I am requesting a small addition to the History section. The current History section says that the first competition organized in the US was in DeLand, Florida, in 1998, and then discusses the first European competition in September 1999 and the first international world cup in 2000. A contemporaneous Orlando Sentinel article from August 2, 1999 documents a DeLand-era speed skydiving world speed record between those two points.

Suggested addition after the current sentence:

"The first competition organized in the US was in Deland (Florida) in 1998 with the barometric Protrack built by Larsen & Brusgaard."

Suggested added sentence:

"In August 1999, The Orlando Sentinel reported that Italian skydiver Roberto Franceschetti, then a webmaster for Orange County's website, held the world speed record for free falling at 332 mph during speed skydiving activity at Skydive DeLand."

Suggested citation:

Reason for request: This is a reliable, contemporaneous newspaper source documenting an early speed skydiving world speed record in DeLand during the historical period already discussed in the article. I am requesting this as historical context only, not as a current FAI/GPS-era record, because the article already explains that modern speed skydiving uses a different GPS-based measuring system.

The article is available online at the Orlando Sentinel URL in the citation, though access may be geo-restricted to the USA or otherwise limited. I also have the original printed copy of the article and can provide page details or a scan/photo for verification if needed.

Ik8sqi (talk) 22:57, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

Ik8sqi (talk) 22:57, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi Ik8sqi, thank you for the edit request. Is there additional information regarding the record progression or how long the record was held for? It is hard to tell from the contemporaneous source additional information, other than that you were the record holder at one point. Additional context would be helpful in assessing the request: if this was a long-held record, it would merit inclusion in the article, but if it was something frequently broken every other month, it may not. I am marking this request as answered; to re-open it, remove the "|answered=yes" in the {{request edit}} template above. Best, Spencer^T•C 06:32, 6 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi Spencer, thank you. Sorry if it took so long to reply - I spent quite some time looking for additional sources and finally had some success. I found an additional contemporaneous source that gives more record-progression context.

Mike Johnston, "Speed Record Claimed", Parachutist, July 1999, p. 17. Parachutist is the official magazine distributed by the United States Parachute Association. The item reports that on June 5, 1999, Roberto Franceschetti claimed a new world free fall speed record of 332 mph over Skydive DeLand, measured by a Larsen & Brusgaard Pro Track. It also states that Jon Loen had set the previous record of 297 mph at Skydive DeLand on April 1, 1999, and that Larsen & Brusgaard confirmed both records.

Suggested additional citation:

<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Johnston |first=Mike |title=Speed Record Claimed |magazine=Parachutist |date=July 1999 |page=17 |url=https://parachutist.com/portals/parachutist/parachutist/archives/July-1999/HTML5/index.html }}</ref>

This seems to address the record-progression question: the 332 mph figure was not just a passing newspaper mention, but was also reported in Parachutist with the previous record, date, location, measuring device, and confirmation by Larsen & Brusgaard.

For neutrality, I am still not asking for the article to state that the record was "never beaten" unless an independent source can be found for that exact point. My main request is to include the sourced 1999 record as historical context for the earlier Pro Track / barometric-measurement period, before the later changes to measurement configuration and the current GPS-era records.

Suggested revised wording:

"In June 1999, Parachutist reported that Italian skydiver Roberto Franceschetti set a new world freefall speed record of 332 mph over Skydive DeLand, measured by a Larsen & Brusgaard Pro Track; the same result was also reported by The Orlando Sentinel in August 1999."

Suggested citations:

<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Johnston |first=Mike |title=Speed Record Claimed |magazine=Parachutist |date=July 1999 |page=17 |url=https://parachutist.com/portals/parachutist/parachutist/archives/July-1999/HTML5/index.html }}</ref>

<ref>{{cite news |last=Steinman |first=Jon |title=Diver is master of the skies |newspaper=The Orlando Sentinel |date=August 2, 1999 |page=C-1 |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/08/02/diver-is-master-of-the-skies/ }}</ref>

Thanks again for taking a look. Ik8sqi (talk) 11:02, 18 May 2026 (UTC)

 Not done It looks like the prior record lasted 2 months before it was broken. I understand that while the record is reliably reported, it's unclear what the record progression was. For example, the current world record was set in 2025. If it were broken every 2 months, it would overwhelm the article with the number of recordholders. I think the article is fine as-is listing the current recordholder as well as initial recordholder/attempt, but without a clear understanding of the progression of the record, it's hard to add an interval recordholder in isolation. Spencer^T•C 19:30, 7 August 2026 (UTC)

Hi Spencer,

Thank you for reviewing this. I understand your concern about including one recordholder in isolation without a broader record progression.

Unfortunately, this happened a long time ago, so the surviving documentation is limited. The Orlando Sentinel article I cited reported the 332 mph record during the competition, which was a two-day event. The reporter and a TV program called Extra were present on the first day. I also still have a video clip from that coverage.

On the second day, I actually broke that 332 mph record with a 356 mph jump. However, I have not been able to find any published source documenting the 356 mph result, so I am not asking for that number to be included.

The 332 mph record, however, was documented both by The Orlando Sentinel and by Parachutist. To the best of my knowledge, it remained the standing record under the old measurement configuration, except for my undocumented 356 mph jump, until the competition rules and measurement setup changed as described in the current article, after which the record progression effectively reset under the new system.

I understand that Wikipedia needs published sources, so I am not asking the article to state “never beaten” unless that can be independently sourced. My request is narrower: to include the documented 332 mph record as historical context for the earlier DeLand / Pro Track measurement period before the later rule changes.

Would that narrower framing make the addition more acceptable?

Thanks again for taking the time to look at it. Ik8sqi (talk) 22:15, 17 August 2026 (UTC)