Flying high at 109: US woman made history with record-breaking hot air balloon flight
Have you ever dared to be miles up in the air and to look down at the world beneath you? Well, at Guinness World Records, we love to see all the amazing heights people go to in order to break records.
On 27 July 2004, Emma Carrol from Ottumwa, Iowa, USA made one big leap for mankind as she decided that she would challenge herself and try something new, and that's when she decided that flying in a hot air balloon would fit the bill.
Emma was born on 18 May 1895, and at the ripe age of 109 years and 70 days, she became the oldest person to fly in a hot air balloon. Once Emma had risen to the occasion, she spent a whole hour up in the air, floating over her home state.
A hot air balloon in flight. Credit: Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Gerontology Wiki reports that Emma said: "It was just something I had always wanted to do. A man and his wife took me [with pilot Brian Bennett]. We went gliding along and I didn’t even know we were so high up. Beats anything I was ever in. I’d do it again if I could!"
Age had never stopped Emma, as after her 100th birthday, she didn’t just head to the skies in a hot air balloon, she also hit the roads to take a ride in a motorcycle car.
Read more stories about the oldest people to do something in our Human Body section.
At the age of 105, Emma became a resident of Vista Woods Care Centre in Iowa, and although she was well and truly into her golden years, she continued to keep busy and would help out by folding towels for the care home twice a week. She told Gerontology Wiki: "I like to work and work with my hands. It keeps [them] so I can use them, keeps them limber. I think work doesn't hurt anybody."
On 10 July 2007, aged 112 years and 53 days, Emma sadly passed away at the care home, but her legacy most definitely lives on.
After all of these years, no one has managed to beat her record, and she will be remembered for her incredible flying feat that truly shows that age is only a number, and that we should always challenge ourselves to do the unexpected.