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Aussies set sky-high record over US

Getting 130 mates to meet in one spot is hard enough, but imagine the degree of difficulty involved in doing it more than 5000 metres in the air.

That's exactly what an Australian skydiving team has done, while breaking a national record.

The Aussies came together in what is called a "130-way", or 130-person formation, in the sunny skies above Southern California.

The freefall link-up is a new Australian record for large formation skydiving.

Footage of the aerial spectacular shows scores of jumpers, wearing multi-coloured suits, jumping from seven aircraft above a suburban and industrial landscape.

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.

And why California?

That's home to the latest, large, oxygen-equipped planes, expert formation pilots and coaches who have been training the "Aussie Bigways" team for more than a decade.

Success came on their sixth attempt over a four-day camp, which had been hampered by poor weather.

The jump has since been assessed and verified by judges from the Australian Parachute Federation.

The previous Australian record, at the same location, boasted 119 people.