106-Year-Old Reclaims Skydiving World Record

A Texas man born 14 years after the Wright Brothers' first flight has reclaimed his record as the world's oldest skydiver. Guinness World Records has confirmed that Al Blaschke, who turned 107 in January, broke a record in November last year with a skydive when he was 106 years and 327 days old. Blaschke, who served as an aviation engineer in World War II, skydived for the first time on his 100th birthday in 2017. In 2020, when he was 103, he broke the record with a jump to celebrate his twin grandsons' graduations, but his record was broken in 2022 by Rut Linnea Ingegard Larsson, a Swedish 103-year-old who was around 80 days older than Blaschke was when he set the record, reports UPI.

In October last year, 104-year-old Chicago woman Dorothy Hoffner went skydiving but she died before Guinness could certify the record. Blaschke, the oldest man in Texas, was joined by Gov. Greg Abbott for his November jump. Abbott said he decided to make his first-ever skydive to honor Blaschke's military service. Both men jumped in tandem with instructors. After the skydive, Blaschke told reporters: "If you think you can't, you're just underestimating yourself. Everyone is more capable than they think. They just need to make the decision to try." (More uplifting news stories.)