At age 104, skydiving Chicagoan sets world record

It’s never too late to cross something off your bucket list.

At 104 years old, Dorothy Hoffner became the oldest person to parachute from a plane on Sunday.

The lifelong Chicagoan pushed aside her walker to board a plane at Skydive Chicago Airport in Ottawa, Illinois, about 80 miles southwest of Chicago, saying “there was nothing scary about it.”

“It was nice, peaceful. I had to keep myself awake so I could see that scenery,” Hoffner said after landing.

Hoffner broke the current Guinness World Record for the oldest tandem parachute jump set in 2022 by a 103-year-old in Sweden.

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Though certification of her record is pending, Hoffner doesn’t care much for the record or the focus on her age, calling it “ridiculous.”

“What has age got to do with what you’re doing?” Hoffner told the Sun-Times on Monday. “I’m 104-years-old, so what?”

Hoffner became interested in skydiving years ago and tried it for the first time on her 100th birthday because it “seemed like an interesting thing to do.” As she put it, that flight happened “B.C. — before COVID.”

This time around, though, Hoffner was able to actually walk out of the plane instead of being pushed from a seated position, which she said she much preferred. The wind’s strength took her by surprise, but she compared it to that of the winds she deals with every winter living near the lakefront, which she said helped prepare her for the skies.

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For this jump, she declined to wear a jumpsuit. Instead, she wore a light blue sweater, dark blue trousers and goggles, which she said was “very comfortable.”

Hoffner’s jump was originally set for September but was rescheduled three times because of bad weather.

Looking ahead, the centenarian said she might ask a 109-year-old who lives in her building to join her on her next jump, though she’s not sure she’ll go again. If anything, she says, it would be better to understand the equipment used, as she was fascinated by how the harnesses work.

“I don’t know what I will do,” Hoffner said. “Whatever presents itself.”

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Another world record was set in Ottawa in 2015, when 164 skydivers flying head-down built the largest ever vertical skydiving formation.

In 2012, a man in Ottawa broke a record for skydiving with the largest flag. Fareed Lafta of Iraq broke a record for carrying an Iraqi flag measuring more than 13,000 square feet.