Published: 12:58 PM 2/2/2010

Buck Wolf, Senior Correspondent

(Feb. 1) – What do you call it when 68 winged men and women fall from the sky? Even the experts still aren't sure.

In a rainbow of different colored suits, 68 daredevils plunged from 13,000 feet above Lake Elsinore, Calif., on Nov. 13. After weeks of training, they perfected a jaw-dropping diamond formation that many called beautiful – and others found downright terrifying.

"They thought we were UFOs," says Taya Weiss of Raise the Sky, a nonprofit skydiving organization. "By the time we landed, several people had called the authorities. They didn't know what to make of us."

No one doubts that this was, by far, the largest jump of its type. The problem is, wingsuit skydiving is a relatively new sport and not yet recognized by the FAI.

The FAI is meeting this week in Switzerland – and all that could change if members decide to certify the record.

"We're very hopeful," says Weiss, who is attending the meeting. "It's a great sport to participate in – and to watch."

No matter what you call this accomplishment, however, no one is denying that it was a very good deed.

The 68 skydivers, ranging in age from 23 to 67, raised more than $5,000 for City Year, an organization that tries to keep high school kids from becoming dropouts.

The jumpers represented 16 countries, including Colombia, Finland, Romania and South Africa. They needed four planes to get them all up in the air, and it took 15 practice runs to perfect that diamond-in-the-sky formation.

Then, on the big day, they fell nearly 2 1/2 miles in a glorious moment that lasted just over a minute.

Of course, those who thought they were witnessing an alien invasion felt a little differently.

Weiss and her organization are keeping an eye on the big picture.

"It's hard to express what it was like meeting the kids," Weiss says. "We were saying, 'We drop out of planes so you don't have to drop out of school.' "