"Age is just a number," Dorothy Hoffner told a group of cheering fans on October 1 shortly after landing at Skydive Chicago Airport in Ottawa, about 10 miles from Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune .
The Guinness World Record for the oldest skydiver was set by Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson of Sweden in May 2022, when she turned 104. Skydive Chicago is working to have Guinness World Records certify Hoffner's jump as a record, according to WLS-TV.
Hoffner made his first skydive at age 100. On October 1, he left his walker near the plane and was helped up the steps with others waiting inside for the jump.
Dorothy Hoffner with skydiver Derek Baxter on October 1 at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois.
The Guardian screenshot
The first time he skydived, he said he was pushed out of the plane. But on October 1, strapped to a U.S. Parachute Association-certified instructor, Hoffner insisted on taking the initiative in the 13,000-foot jump.
He looked calm and confident as the plane was high in the sky and the rear doors of the plane opened to reveal the fields below, just before he jumped into the air. He dove head first out of the plane, completing a perfect forward somersault in the sky, before settling into a belly-down freefall.
The jump lasted seven minutes, including the parachute slowly descending to the ground. Friends rushed to congratulate him afterward, while someone brought Hoffner’s red walker. He quickly stood up and was asked how it felt to return to the ground. “It was amazing, it was amazing, it couldn’t be better,” Hoffner said.
After the October 1 jump, Hoffner quickly looked to the future and other challenges, saying he might go ballooning next.
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