A 104-year-old lady from Chicago wants to be recognized as the oldest person to go skydiving. She left her walker on the ground and jumped from a plane in northern Illinois with someone guiding her.
Dorothy Hoffner, who is 104 years old, said, ‘Age doesn’t matter,’ to a happy crowd right after landing on Sunday at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa. This is about 85 miles away from Chicago, as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
The current Guinness World Record for the oldest skydiver is held by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson from Sweden, set in May 2022. However, Skydive Chicago is trying to get Guinness World Records to officially recognize Hoffner’s jump as a new record, according to WLS-TV.
At 100 years old, Hoffner did her first skydive. On Sunday, she didn’t use her walker, and with some help, got onto the plane. Excited, she shouted, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, Geronimo!’
The first time she did this, she needed a push to jump. But this time, she was tied to an instructor approved by the U.S. Parachute Association. Hoffner wanted to lead the jump from 13,500 feet (4,100 meters).
When the plane was high up and the back door opened, showing fields below, she moved to the edge and jumped confidently. She somersaulted in the air, head first, and then glided smoothly, facing the ground.
The whole dive took seven minutes, which includes when her parachute gently brought her down to the ground. As she landed, the wind pushed back her white hair. She held onto the straps over her shoulders, lifted her legs, and softly landed on the grassy area.
Friends came over to congratulate her, and someone brought her red walker. She stood up quickly and was asked how it felt to be back on the ground.
“It felt wonderful,” Hoffner said. “But it was wonderful up there. The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn’t have been better.”
After the jump, Hoffner already started thinking about what she might do next. This lifelong Chicago resident, who will turn 105 in December, mentioned that she might try riding in a hot-air balloon.
“I’ve never been in one before,” she said.
SFGATE