'Age is just a number:' 104-year-old jumps from plane to break record for oldest skydiver
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.
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“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.
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“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."
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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.