Passion for Flying: Veteran, 90, Takes Skydiving Leap

By La Tonya Frelix, 'Hattiesburg American'

Glyn Porter is a 90-year-old veteran and Marion County, Mississippi, resident who recently went on a skydiving outing courtesy of Gold Coast Skydivers. Gold Coast owner Mike Igo says Porter is the oldest person he has ever taken on a tandem skydive. Porter says he has a passion for flying and once owned Vicksburg Flying Service, where he taught flying lessons after acquiring an instructor's license in 1959. He also constructed a landing strip in his backyard. "I flew 'til I was past 80 years commercially," Porter says. He still has a pilot's license, but was unable to maintain his medical certification because of an accident years ago. Porter is hoping to have it reinstated so he can fly once more. "All I want to do is get my medical," he says. "I just want to get to air shows and things like that."

October 14, 2009