Current:Home > Finance'Age is just a number:' 104-year-old jumps from plane to break record for oldest skydiver -Wealth Empowerment Zone
'Age is just a number:' 104-year-old jumps from plane to break record for oldest skydiver
View
Date:2025-04-17 08:06:53
A 104-year-old Chicago woman proves that you're never too old to try something new, even if that thing is jumping out of a plane.
“Age is just a number,” Dorothy Hoffner told the Chicago Tribune, after becoming the oldest person to skydive on Sunday, pending Guinness World Records verification.
The centennial left her walker behind as she was made her way to the Skyvane plane in Ottawa, Illinois, 85 miles south of Chicago.
Hoffner first went skydiving when she was 100 years old and had to be pushed out of the plane. This time around, she willingly and joyfully led the tandem 13,500 foot jump.
Skydiving records:73-year-old adventurer, Air Force specialists set skydiving record over New Mexico
“Let’s go, let’s go, Geronimo!” Hoffner said after she was finally seated on the plane, the Tribune reported.
The entire dive took seven minutes.
More:She turned 95. She spent her day jumping out of an airplane in Hawaii.
“Skydiving is a wonderful experience, and it’s nothing to be afraid of. Just do it," Hoffner told NBC Chicago.
As her feet made it back on land, friends rushed to her side to congratulate her, the Tribune reported.
"Wonderful," Hoffner said about being back on the ground. "But it was wonderful up there. The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn't have been better."
More:WWII nurse checks skydiving off her bucket list on her 100th birthday
Setting a world record
Skydive Chicago is working with the Guinness World Record to certify Hoffner's jump as a record.
Sweden's Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson earned the previous Guinness World Record record in May 2022 when she was 103 years old.
But Hoffner, who turns 105 this December, is not done trying new things. Her next move is to hopefully take a hot air balloon ride.
“I’ve never been in one of those,” she said.
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Montana minor league baseball team in dispute with National Park Service over arrowhead logo
- Jason Kelce scorches Messi, MLS: 'Like Michael Jordan on a golf course.' Is he right?
- After 4-hour fight, 2 fishermen land 718-pound giant bluefin tuna off New Jersey coast
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- 4,000 Cybertrucks sold: Recall offers glimpse at Tesla's rank in rocky electric truck market
- The Rev. Cecil Williams, who turned San Francisco’s Glide Church into a refuge for many, has died
- Maine’s governor signs bill to protect providers of abortion, gender-affirming care
- California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- In Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets,' the torture is in the songwriting
Ranking
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- NYU pro-Palestinian protesters cleared out by NYPD, several arrests made. See the school's response.
- Montana minor league baseball team in dispute with National Park Service over arrowhead logo
- Kim Kardashian Reveals Her Polarizing Nipple Bra Was Molded After Her Own Breasts
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Julia Fox and More Stars Defend Taylor Swift Against Piece About Fan Fatigue
- Few have heard about Biden's climate policies, even those who care most about issue — CBS News poll
- Kim Kardashian gives first interview since Taylor Swift album, talks rumors about herself
Recommendation
Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
Aid for Ukraine and Israel, possible TikTok ban advance in Senate
California could ban Clear, which lets travelers pay to skip TSA lines
Book excerpt: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
These apps allow workers to get paid between paychecks. Experts say there are steep costs
In Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets,' the torture is in the songwriting
Google fires more workers who protested its deal with Israel