SAN MARCOS, Texas – August 29, 2025, will be a day one South Texas man will remember for the rest of his thrill-seeking life after setting a Guinness World Record as the oldest man to fly in a wingsuit.
Thomas Conner, 68, said he’s always been adventurous.
“I grew up in the ’70s, so you know that time is all about enjoying life,” Conner said. “So when I got in the Air Force, I didn’t have that. But one day, I walked into the rec center, and I saw a poster asking, ‘Are you a thrill seeker? Do you want to go skydiving?’ I said, ‘Oh man! That is for me right there!”
Conner said he was 22 at the time of his first jump, and he was indeed nervous.
“I volunteered first, and he told me, ‘Oh man, when you jumped out of that plane, you had your eyes closed so tight!’ So, I had fear of it too,” Conner said, laughing.
Since then, he was hooked on falling from the sky.
After retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 1994 and moving all over the country, Conner landed in South Texas, where he found a new skydiving family at Skydive Spaceland San Marcos.
He said his goal is to do 20 to 30 jumps a month, and with that goal in mind, he has already gotten up over 470 jumps in his lifetime.
But something inspired Conner to take the adrenaline rush up a notch.
“I happen to be reading a skydiving article, and it said the oldest man to jump a wingsuit is this guy who was 62 years old,” he said. “I said, ‘Man, I am 67! I think I can do that!”
Skydiving and wingsuit jumping are two different sports, even though both require jumping out of a plane.
“You can double the amount of time you are in freefall,” he said, “Because you are no longer going 120 mph straight down. You are gliding horizontally, in fast speed, so it is a different adventure. No doubt about it.”
With the help of his instructor, Eli, his mentor and fellow skydivers, Connor trained and trained.
“We go over many different things like becoming unstable in the air and then becoming stable,” he said, “Doing half barrel rolls and from my belly to back and then back to my belly. Also, we train on how to exit the plane, so you don’t get thrown into the tail.”
Conner said the first time he tried the wingsuit, he was both terrified and excited.
“But as soon as I got into the sky and opened my wings, oh man, it was like nothing I have ever experienced before. Like my first jump,” he said.
Connor said, despite a small malfunction in the air where his main parachute twisted up on him, and with the help of training and a backup parachute, he landed safely with the historic title of the oldest person to fly in a wingsuit at age 67.
He said the next step is to set the world record for skydivers over age 70.
“Skydiving isn’t just a hobby or a sport,” said Conner. “And it is not just a community. It is a family.”
He offered this advice to people who plan to take up skydiving as a hobby.
“Safety is very important in this sport,” Conner said. “But I would say it is very important to be careful on the most dangerous part of this amazing adventure, which is the drive to and from the drop zone,” he joked.
If you are interested in taking that leap of faith and joining a family, visit Skydive Spaceland San Marcos.