JUMPING out of a plane at 14,000 feet and plummeting towards the earth at a speed of 120mph, Highams Park woman Caroline Allen will be one of an elite team of British women skydivers.
Mrs Allen, 37, is one of just 60 women picked from across the UK to take part in a record breaking attempt to do a highly skilled formation skydive.
The group, known as the Brit Chicks, will be going all out to form a 60-way formation in the sky after jumping from planes soaring over the Nottinghamshire countryside.
Although Caroline has recently been part of larger formation skydives, this will be the only one made up solely of British women.
It is hoped the team will beat the previous record of 50 British women skydivers in formation, which was set in 2002.
What started as a challenge to herself following the death of her husband, Trevor, several years ago, has turned into a new way of life for Mrs Allen, who has done more than 650 jumps.
She has travelled all over the world to destinations including California, France and Sweden to take part in formation skydives, and has jumped from helicopters, planes and even a hot air balloon.
The Brit Chicks jump is expected to be a good preparation event for the selection of a team of women who will go for the international all-women record next year.
At the end of last month Caroline was also part of an all-women skydiving jump from a plane over Lidkoping, Sweden, when 42 women built a formation which broke the record for the number of women in formation over that country.
Teamwork and the chance to make new friends are features of the sport that Mrs Allen says she particularly enjoys.
"I would definitely encourage other women to take up skydiving. It tests your mind and although you have to push your body you don't have to be super-fit. It's great fun and a brilliant way of meeting people," she said.
She has trained at the Sibson base near Peterborough, which offers accredited courses in skydiving.
For the Brit Chick record the women will be jumping from four planes flying in close formation from Langar airfield in Nottinghamshire.
Left, Caroline Allen who will be taking time out from her office job to participate in a formation sky dive to break the British all-women record.
