Tough elderly lady

[Abedy 0]

I did my 1750th jump yesterday (I decided to only have "special" jumps every quarter of a thousand after #1000) and tandem-jumped with an 83-year-old lady. It was her 108th tandem jump, woohoo. [*] She's got her own jumpsuit and frap hat, doesn't need to be told anything, so we just chatted and she was so relaxed and exchanged all these hand-twisting manoeuvres with other TIs and jumpers...

Out of an AN-2, she arched like hell, so we were right belly-to-wind and I could wait a while until tossing the drogue, then we did some nice 360s, then pulled at 1500m. Right after the canopy was open she loooouuudly yelled "Geil!" several times which is supposed to be youth-speak here, huhu.
She wanted to do "some nice fast turns" under canopy. Space was clear, altitude sufficient, so we went... 6 in a row, huhu. I landed her next to her friends and she lifted her legs 90° and we slid it in perfectly, a lot of 20-year-olds aren't as fit as she is... She has got her own jump logbook so I signed it, of course and had her sign mine in exchange She doesn't hold a Guiness Record neither for jump numbers no for age but flipping through the pages of her logbook I noticed she sort of "collected" both a great number of TIs and planes, even jumped from a hot air balloon.

That was such a nice ride and she is so full of life, was a great pleasure. Just wanted to share the experience.

[*] Article (in German) about her 100th jump with video

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

The Society of Skydiving Ducks

[piisfish 140]

beautiful story, thanks for sharing.
do you know if she ever jumped solo ?

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[flyhi 24]

I'd love to jump one of those.





An AN-2, not an 83-year-old lady . . . yet.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[piisfish 140]

I think it is easier to jump an An-2 than an 83yrs old lady.

I have a couple of AN-2 jumps, but my 80's counter is still nil.

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[BIGUN 1,314]

People are awesome!!

What a beautiful lady.

Thanks for an uplifting post.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[airtwardo 7]

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Abedy 0]

Quote

beautiful story, thanks for sharing.
do you know if she ever jumped solo ?

She started skydiving at the age of 66 and AFAIK never intended to go solo. She did a lot of other ventures including rides in aerobatic planes (w/o vomiting I was told, heh heh)

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

The Society of Skydiving Ducks

[Abedy 0]

Quote

I'd love to jump one of those.
An AN-2, not an 83-year-old lady . . . yet.

The AN-2 is quite an experience. Door is high but not very wide, prop blast is quite strong... you drop and... then you feel as if in the doldrums 'coz the good ol' lady doesn't ride very fast. A good number of experienced jumper were quite surprised and some of 'em gave a good laugh to the others when they toppled over

Jumping with a fit tough 83-year-old is fun, as I wrote before. And I see it this way: To them young chicks (20+ or so) I am a dinosaur but for Ida I (at 51 years of age) was a crisp young toy-boy^T airtaxi driver , gave me a good feeling, too!

The sky is not the limit. The ground is.

The Society of Skydiving Ducks

[piisfish 140]

héhéhé toyboy

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[JohnMitchell 16]

I've taken a number of 70+ year olds. None that I remember being in really good shape but most had a great, fun attitude. That made it fun for me.

[chanhlemonlime 0]

too adorable.