Skydiving 85-year-old Michigan woman nears 700 career jumps

FOWLERVILLE, Mich. (FOX 2) - Kim Knor is no stranger to jumping out of airplanes. In fact, she's done it 698 times.

Just opening the door of the Cessna plane at 10,000 feet in the air - and ready to jump -would petrify many of us - but Kim‘s been doing this since age 20. She’s 85 years old now.

FOX 2: "You actually have a gold medal don’t you?"

"I do, yes," she said. "We got together the first US women’s team, two of them started jumping with in California and then we collected a few others and we actually had 10 women that went into training in 1962."

This great-grandmother is only 5 feet tall and is a "JOE" for Jumpers Over 80 - and she says when she’s up in the air, she could be traveling out about 100 miles.

"That’s what I like about it. I used to watch the birds flying and wonder how do they do that?" she said.

Kim’s goal is to reach 1,000 jumps by sometime next year.

"I’ll be so lucky if I get to be her age and keep jumping," said Daniel Castillo, a skydiving instructor.

Her first 545 jumps were by herself, but because of age, she flies tandem now.

"I’m just hoping to be like her one day," he said.

FOX 2: "Don’t take this the wrong way, but some people might think if you're in your 80s and skydiving that it's a little weird."

"It is a little weird," she quipped.

On Saturday it’s World Skydiving Day where everyone is encouraged to do it.

"This is the life, to retire and play in the sky," she said. "And look what I get to play with. This is so much fun."