Current:Home > reviews'Age is just a number:' 104-year-old jumps from plane to break record for oldest skydiver -WealthSpot
'Age is just a number:' 104-year-old jumps from plane to break record for oldest skydiver
View
Date:2025-04-26 20:45:09
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! (2)
Related
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Justin Timberlake announces one-night-only NYC concert — and the tickets are free
- What's the best food from Trader Joe's? Shoppers' favorite items revealed in customer poll
- At least 60 civilians were killed in Burkina Faso last year in military drone strikes, watchdog says
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- Swedish PM says he’s willing to meet Hungary’s Orban to end deadlock over Sweden’s NATO membership
- Hillary Clinton calls Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig 'more than Kenough' after Oscars snub
- Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza’s southern border. That’s fueling tension with Egypt
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- Chipotle wants to hire 19,000 workers ahead of 'burrito season', adds new benefits
Ranking
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
- 'Griselda' cast, release date, where to watch Sofía Vergara star as Griselda Blanco in new series
- Justin Timberlake will perform a free concert in New York City: How to score tickets
- At least 50 villagers shot dead in latest violence in restive northern Nigerian state of Plateau
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Gene therapy shows promise for an inherited form of deafness
- Sofía Vergara Shares Her One Dating Rule After Joe Manganiello Split
- North Korea says it tested a new cruise missile in the latest example of its expanding capabilities
Recommendation
In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
A manifesto for feeding 8 billion people
French farmers edge closer to Paris as protests ratchet up pressure on President Macron
Evers in State of the State address vows to veto any bill that would limit access to abortions
The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
Families of those killed in the 2002 Bali bombings testify at hearing for Guantanamo detainees
Freed Israeli hostage says she met a Hamas leader in a tunnel, where she was kept in dire conditions
More heavy snow expected in Japan after 800 vehicles trapped on expressway