A 104-year-old Chicago woman is hoping to be certified as the oldest person to ever skydive after leaving her walker on the ground and making a tandem jump in northern Illinois.
“Age is just a number,” Dorothy Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after touching the ground Sunday at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The Guinness World Record for the oldest skydiver was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson from Sweden.
But Skydive Chicago is working to have Guinness World Records certify Hoffner’s jump as a record, WLS-TV reported.
Hoffner first skydived when she was 100. On Sunday, she left her walker behind just short of the plane — a Skyvan — and was helped up the steps to join the others waiting inside to skydive.
The dive lasted seven minutes, including her parachute’s slow descent to the ground. Coming in to land, the wind pushed Hoffner’s white hair back, she clung to the harness over her narrow shoulders, picked up her legs and plopped softly onto the grassy landing area.
The lifelong Chicago woman, who turns 105 in December, said she might ride in a hot-air balloon next.
“I’ve never been in one of those,” she said.
Read More Here: Chicago woman, 104, skydives from plane, aiming for record as the world’s oldest skydiver
