Moves for Seniors Blog

How old were you the first time you jumped out of an airplane? If you’re Jack Green of Austin, Texas, you were 98.

“At first I said to myself, ‘What am I doing up here?’,” Statesman after his first jump in 2012. He was one of nine residents of an Austin retirement community to dive 11,000 miles from a plane that day. Their ages ranged from 70 to a few days shy of 100. Green even said he was planning on doing it again for his 100th birthday.

Seniors skydiving in celebration of their birthdays is all the rage these days. Back in 2011, Mary Lou Dorgan of Huntley, Illinois executed her first successful skydive for her 70th birthday. “To psych myself up, I thought, ‘Thousands of people do this all the time,’ and so I tried to forget the risk or anything like that,” MySundayNews.com. The jump was 14,000 feet.

“Maybe I’ll do it again for my 80th,” she said.

Those ten seniors aren’t alone. Just ask Warren “Biggie” Tucker, a former pilot who made his first jump in an indoor skydiving facility in Virginia Beach this past February at age 94. Actually, indoor skydiving is much more inexpensive way to get the same kind of thrill you would get from the actual thing.

“I kind of lost my breath,” Hampton Roads right after his jump.

Then there’s Harriet Rocco, who had always dreamed of being able to fly since she was a little girl. Back then, she would even jump off of her garage with an umbrella in classic Mary Poppins style. At age 86, Rocco finally achieved her dream when she made her first jump out of an airplane.

Actually, that first jump wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she thought it would be. So, she got right back up into the sky and did it again. Beats jumping off of a roof with an umbrella, right?

“This was a lot more fun,” A Place for Mom – Skydiving Senior Citizen. “It was glorious.”

“Some people thought I was a little off my beam to do it at this stage of life, but I don’t think so,” Khou.com. “I think it’s a great idea!”