Dorothy Hoffner, a 104-year-old woman from Chicago, is hoping to make history as the oldest person to ever skydive. She left her walker on the ground and took a tandem jump in northern Illinois on Sunday.
She told a cheering crowd after landing at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, that “age is just a number,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
She is trying to beat the Guinness World Record for oldest skydiver, which was set by Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson, a 103-year-old woman from Sweden, in May 2022. Skydive Chicago is working to have Guinness World Records certify Hoffner’s jump as a record, WLS-TV reported.
This was not Hoffner’s first skydive. She did it for the first time when she was 100. On Sunday, she ditched her walker before boarding a Skyvan plane and was helped up the steps to join the other skydivers.
She said she had to be pushed out of the aircraft when she first skydived. But on Sunday, she was strapped to a U.S. Parachute Association-certified instructor and insisted on leading the jump from 13,500 feet (4,100 meters).
The dive lasted seven minutes, including her parachute’s slow descent to the ground. As she approached the landing area, the wind blew her white hair back and she held onto the harness over her narrow shoulders. She lifted her legs and landed softly on the grass.