I love the quote at the end, "Pretty cool" :D

Man turns 90, leaps out of plane

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEWISTON, Fla. -- Turning 90 made Guy Glinski want to jump out of a plane. So he took the plunge.

The nonagenarian gave himself a memorable birthday present Saturday, getting into a propeller plane and jumping out at 13,000 feet, tethered to an instructor.

"I've always wanted to do this," said Glinski, a retired carpenter and widower of three years. "I'll be back next year."

Glinski's daughter, Elizabeth Biersdorfer, 61, hugged him and wished him luck moments before the jump. She didn't seem surprised - or bothered - by her father's decision to pick up a new hobby.

"He's pretty sound of mind and he's in good shape," she said.

Glinski says he was inspired after reading a newspaper article about an 86-year-old woman who made a tandem skydive.

After a minute in free-fall and six minutes gliding under the open chute, Glinski could only muster a few words as he sat on the ground Saturday.

"Pretty cool, pretty cool," he said.

I always wanted to try tandem jumping...maybe when I hit 40 I will be brave enough to give it a try.  Don't think I would at the age of 90....probably won't make it down alive.   :o

I did a tandem jump for my 33rd birthday back in June.  It was so much fun!  I'm trying to convince some friends of mine that they want to try it.  Here's a picture from the video they took: http://www.factorfantasy.com/Photos/sky3.jpg

Thanks Howard and Race.  It was an amazing experience.  If it hadn't been tandem, I don't know if I could have done it.  When we waddled up to the door and I had to put my toes over the edge and I looked down and only saw sky, my mind went completely blank until the instructor yelled for me to look up and arch as he pushed us out.  After that, the only thing you could do is enjoy the ride!  We did 55 seconds of free-falling (at 120 miles an hour, that was almost 2 miles that we fell for).  Here's what we looked liked falling away from the plane: http://www.factorfantasy.com/Photos/sky2.jpg Again, not a good picture since it's taken from the video I got.  The video cost $70 because the videographer had to jump with you.  I think it was worth it.

Now I have to decide what I'm going to do to beat this for my next birthday...

My grandfather did his first jump on his 77th birthday.  

Then we did a three generation jump for his 80th b'day with him, myself and my brother and my uncle (a veteran of over 5000 jumps).

He is 90 next year (or the year after - I must check !!) and has already organised his birthday jump.  He wants all his sons to jump with him but other than the actual skydiving one - all the others are too chicken - my dad said we could darn well wait till he was 90 himself !!

I have jumped several times since that one too - its awesome with a hangover !!