{"id":421003,"date":"2023-10-03T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T06:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/?p=421003"},"modified":"2023-10-03T09:00:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T06:00:57","slug":"chicago-woman-104-skydives-from-plane-aiming-for-record-as-the-worlds-oldest-skydiver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/chicago-woman-104-skydives-from-plane-aiming-for-record-as-the-worlds-oldest-skydiver\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago woman, 104, skydives from plane, aiming for record as the world\u2019s oldest skydiver"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA, Ill. (SONNA) \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAge is just a number,\u201d 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\u00a0Chicago Tribune<\/span>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

The Guinness World Record for the oldest skydiver was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linn\u00e9a Ingeg\u00e4rd Larsson from Sweden. But Skydive Chicago is working to have Guinness World Records certify Hoffner\u2019s jump as a record, WLS-TV<\/span>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

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Hoffner first skydived when she was 100. On Sunday, she left her walker behind just short of the plane \u2014 a Skyvan \u2014 and was helped up the steps to join the others waiting inside to skydive.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go, let\u2019s go, Geronimo!\u201d Hoffner said after she was finally seated.<\/p>\n

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When she first skydived, she said she had to be pushed out of the aircraft. But on Sunday, tethered to a U.S. Parachute Association-certified instructor, Hoffner insisted on leading the jump from 13,500 feet (4,100 meters).<\/p>\n

She looked calm and confident when the plane was aloft and its aft door opened to reveal tan crop fields far below shortly before she shuffled toward the edge and leaped into the air. She tumbled out of the plane, head first, completing a perfect forward roll in the sky, before flying stable in freefall with her belly facing the ground.<\/p>\n

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The dive lasted seven minutes, including her parachute\u2019s slow descent to the ground. Coming in to land, the wind pushed Hoffner\u2019s white hair back, she clung to the harness over her narrow shoulders, picked up her legs and plopped softly onto the grassy landing area.<\/p>\n

Friends rushed in to share congratulations, while someone brought over Hoffner\u2019s red walker. She rose quickly and she was asked how it felt to be back on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWonderful,\u201d Hoffner said. \u201cBut it was wonderful up there. The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn\u2019t have been better.\u201d<\/p>\n

After her jump, Hoffner\u2019s mind quickly turned to the future and other challenges. The lifelong Chicago woman, who\u2019s set to turn 105 in December, said she might take a ride in a hot-air balloon next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been in one of those,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: AP<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA, Ill. (SONNA) \u2014 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. \u201cAge is just a number,\u201d Dorothy Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after touching the ground Sunday at Skydive Chicago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":421004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-421003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421005,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421003\/revisions\/421005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}