104-year-old skydiver makes record-setting jump

104-year-old skydiver makes record-setting jump

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A 104-year-old Chicago woman traded her walker for a harness and parachute in an attempt to become the oldest person in the world to ever skydive.

Dorothy Hoffner was greeted with cheers on Sunday as she safely touched down following the 13,500-foot tandem jump at Skydive Chicago Airport in Ottawa, Ill., about 85 miles southwest of Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“Age is just a number,” Hoffner told the crowd after her record-setting seven-minute jump, which Skydive Chicago is working to have certified by Guinness World Records.

If made official, Hoffner’s leap will eclipse the current world-record for the world’s oldest skydiver, set in May 2022 by fellow centenarian 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson, of Sweden.


A white-haired woman with a red walker standing in a grassy field waves as two men wearing harnesses stand on either side of her.
Hoffner enthusiastically waved to supporters, friends, and well-wishers after completing the seven-minute jump. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune via AP
AP

An elderly woman skydiver attached to a parachute harness sits on a grassy area with her instructor, who is wearing a blue helmet with a raised visor.
Hoffner safely landed in a patch of grass with her instructor at Skydive Chicago Airport in Ottawa, Ill. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune via AP
AP

It wasn’t the first time Hoffner took to the skies to parachute back to terra firma. The silver-haired thrill-seeker made her first skydive at age 100, when she was given a helpful push from the plane to start her descent. This time, however, Hoffner opted to lead the jump herself.

Hoffner left her red walker beside the aircraft ahead of her latest jump, and with a little help up the stairs she was ready for her leap into the record books. She was described as “calm and confident” as the Skyvan plane’s aft door swung open, more than 2.5 miles above the rural Midwest landscape. Tethered to a U.S. Parachute Association-certified instructor, Hoffner gripped her harness, made her way toward the edge of the aircraft and took her leap of faith.

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After landing safely on a grassy patch at the airport, Hoffner was quickly swarmed by friends offering their congratulations. She beamed to reporters and well-wishers that “the whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn’t have been better.”

Hoffner, who will be turning 105 in December, apparently has no plans on slowing down anytime soon, wasting no time plotting her next airborne feat. Next, she says, she has her sights set on taking a ride in a hot-air balloon. “I’ve never been in one of those,” she said.



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