86-year-old woman ready to skydive over Long Island in goal to make 1,000 jumps

Friday, July 11, 2025
SHIRLEY, Long Island (WABC) -- An 86-year-old woman will take to the sky this weekend on Long Island to go skydiving for the more than 800th time.

Kim Knor is traveling around the country with one goal in mind: to take more than 1,000 jumps in her lifetime.

"There's an award you get for 1,000 jumps from the United States Parachute Association and it's gold wings," Knor said.

And on Saturday she will get one step closer to her goal when she leaps from a plane over Long Island.

After more than 800 jumps in her lifetime, she said it's all about living in the moment.



"You're not thinking about the bills back home or having to go to work or this or that, and you're not thinking about the future, because you have to live in the moment to participate and to fly like a bird," Knor said.

Her skydiving career began when she was just 20 years old when she forged her parents' signature to take her first tandem skydive.

After that, Know became a member of the first U.S. women's parachute team.

And after a decades-long break from jumping to raise her children, she took to the sky again, but with family.

"Both of my daughters and all of my grandchildren have been jumping with me," she said.



If all goes according to plan, Knor expects to take her 1,000th jump sometime next year.

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