Skydive couple win world awards

6:52pm Friday 22nd August 2008

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Husband and wife Andy and Claire Scott may be two of the best skydivers in the world, but they still argue about the domestic chores at 13,500 feet.

The adrenaline junkies, from Marsh Gibbon near Bicester, have jumped out of planes more than 10,000 times between them.

Both have just returned from the World Formation Skydiving Championships in Maubeuge, France, where Mrs Scott was crowned world champion in the four-way event for a record fifth time.

She will seek to retain her national title in the same event, which involves making a series of shapes in the sky with three teammates before pulling the parachute cord.

Mrs Scott, 35, said: "I love the fact we are jumping out of planes all the time. It is one of those sports you can always get better at."

Mr Scott, 39, whose team finished fifth in the world in the eight-way formation event, recently joined his wife in Spain for the filming of a Honda advert where skydivers spelled out the name of the car firm in mid air.

The couple have also trained first-time skydivers at RAF Weston-on-the-Green, and Mr Scott said: "You are not going to find anywhere else where a husband and wife are either side of a student at 13,500 feet bickering about who is doing the washing up."

Mrs Scott has the more jumps of the two, with 5,500 leaps from planes, but she nearly cut her career short in an incident in 1996.

She said: "A long time ago when I didn't have a lot of experience I jumped out of a balloon and landed on some power cables.

"I brought the cable down and it set fire to a field and cut the local village's power off. It was quite scary - I didn't see them until the very last minute. I was lucky I just got away with whiplash and didn't get an electric shock."

Undeterred, the former sales manager - now nicknamed Sparky - rose to the top of the formation skydiving world with her team Bodyflight Storm.

The team's event sees them jump out of a plane at 10,500 feet and manoeuvre themselves to make shapes for 35 seconds before pulling the cord at 3,000 feet.

Mr Scott jumps at 13,500 and has 50 seconds to get into place with his seven teammates.

The former staff sergeant in the Royal Signals, who holds three skydiving world records, said: "I am very proud of Claire - no other woman has won five world championships.

"It is a mixture of excitement and terror when you first jump. But it is really easy to control and go when you want when you are out of the plane."