Some families spend quality time hiking together, playing pickleball or getting too competitive over classic board games. The Matrones skydive — and break world records.
Lehigh Valley natives Frank and Dominic Matrone, father and son, respectively, were among 104 skydivers from all over the world who broke an 18-year-old record — one the older Matrone helped set in 2007 of 100 divers — for the largest skydiving canopy formation in November.
“For me, this was special because Dominic was there,” said Frank Matrone, who now lives in Kutztown and works at St. Luke’s Primary Care as a physician. “I would have done it anyway, but having Dominic there with me was really neat.”
“He has more skill than I do,” he added.
The record, set in Lake Wales, Florida, took about four days and a dozen attempts to build a massive diamond of carefully spaced skydivers with large canopy parachutes. It took years of planning and the participants were chosen via competitive tryouts.
The 104 skydivers, starting with the first out of the plane at almost 20,000 feet, had 15 minutes to organize themselves into a massive human diamond in the air. They did it in 11 minutes and 15 seconds, and the formation was held for 20 seconds before the divers split apart to land safely.
Dominic Matrone, who lives in Schuylkill County, said that being part of the record, his first, was “pretty awesome.”
“Especially with how big the 2007 record was, and I don’t even mean just like the size of it,” he said. “I mean the story of it, the mythology behind it, it stood for 18 years. It was a monument in the community.”
His father was eager to break his own record.
“For the last several years, I’ve been saying, you know, ‘I’m not getting any younger. We got to do this sooner,’ ” he said.
Frank Matrone, 65, has been skydiving since 1977, when he was 17. He has made approximately 5,860 jumps since then and set eight world records, with his first in 1994. His son, 27, started at 18 and has made 445 jumps of his own. The pair estimated that they make about 50-100 jumps together a year.
Lehigh Valley natives Frank Matrone and son Dominic Matrone were among 104 skydivers from all over the world who broke an 18-year-old record — one the older Matrone helped set in 2007 of 100 divers — for the largest skydiving canopy formation in November 2025. (Courtesy Frank Matrone)
After skydiving for so long, it’s no longer just about jumping out of a plane and landing safely — there are skills to build upon.
“We develop a lot of canopy skills that most skydivers don’t develop, don’t need to develop because they don’t fly in proximity to other people,” Dominic Matrone said.
Canopy formation — also called canopy relative work, abbreviated as “CRW” or just called “crew” — is a discipline of skydiving in which groups of skydivers with canopy parachutes join together in the air.
This record was “the most special because I was literally handing the canopy to Dominic,” his father said. The duo was next to each other in the formation in the lower right corner of the diamond.
“A lot of normal people who don’t skydive think skydiving is crazy, and normal skydivers who don’t do crew think crew is crazy,” Frank Matrone said.
Dominic Matrone, a self-defined adrenaline junkie, “clearly” got into skydiving because of his parents. Aleth Matrone, his mother, is also an avid skydiver, but “she’s not as thrilled about putting canopies next to each other as we are,” her husband said.
“I love the feeling of it,” the younger Matrone said. “I love the skill involved with crew in particular. I love the skill involved. I love the community.”
So, what’s next — breaking another record?
“There’s some discussion about a record, but nothing is set in stone,” Dominic Matrone said.
In the meantime, he is interested in learning to pilot, or be the person at the very top of the canopy formation, along with organizing similar events.
“I just want to keep enjoying it and hope my health stays well,” Frank Matrone said. “We’re jumping with a laugh.”
Selma O’Malley is a freelance writer.