I forged my parents' signature to do my first skydive at 20 - now I'm 84 and bidding for my Gold Wings 1,000th jump

A SKYDIVING legend has revealed plans to reach 1,000 jumps after she forged her parents' signatures to make her first leap from the sky over 60 years ago.

Kim Emmons-Knor, 84, is considered an icon to whom she referred to as her skydiving "family" around the world in an exclusive conversation with The U.S. Sun.

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Inducted into the International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame in 2013 and a lifetime member of the United States Parachute Association (USPA), Kim began her journey after being inspired by her uncle at the age of six.

"I found out at six years old on my own that’s what I wanted to do," she explained.

"My uncle came back from the military and twice had to jump out of a plane, the second time the parachute ripped on the side of the plane so they let him take it home with him.”

Kim noted that her uncle and father later stitched up the chute, and the awe of flying through the sky mesmerized her.

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“I thought that the world had just opened up new to me," she told The U.S. Sun.

The longtime skydiver recalled that she dreamt of her first jump up until four months before she turned 21 in 1959 — the legal age to parachute at the time.

Although Kim couldn't wait any longer, so she forged her parents' signatures and took a plane up that winter near the south side of Chicago.

She recounted feeling nothing but excitement and determination to get out of the aircraft when it was her time to dive.

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"I wasn’t scared — I wasn’t upset or nervous about anything — I was just trying to get out of the plane in the right place,” Kim noted.

"It was exciting."

Problems quickly began as the static line, a cord fixed to a solid part of a plane that immediately opens a parachute, was not available.

That wouldn't stop Kim from jumping, though.

“Today’s my day to jump, I’m not going to leave," she said of her thoughts before leaping.

Kim explained that the staff offered to pull her ripcord as she jumped, but she felt it was best left in her hands.

“I said I can do that, I don’t need you to do it," she told The U.S. Sun.

She then flung herself out with the chute opening perfectly — it was everything she dreamed — until some power lines got in the way of an equally perfect landing.

"The parachute opened beautifully, but we were way off the landing area where we should’ve been — the power lines went down, but I didn’t take them down — the parachute took them down,” Kim said while laughing at the recollection of the mishap.

WORLD CHAMPION

Even with the unexpected landing, Kim's love for the sport grew as she made several more jumps and decided to try out for the first-ever United States Women's Parachute Team in 1961.

"We had a men's team going to world championships, but we didn’t have any women," she explained.

Kim added that their roster was cut short that year due to an injury a team member suffered — but returned the following year with a vengeance.

In the 1962 world meet against 19 other countries, Kim won gold alongside her teammates as the first-ever women's parachute team from the US.

"It was the first time the United States had women in the world championships, and we won the gold," she beamed.

“We had the best of the best of the best.”

Kim added: "I was in shock when we won it the first time out.”

The women's team returned home to what Kim remembered as a lot of positive attention — inspiring other women to get involved and play a hand in the development of the "amazing" USPA, dedicated to keeping skydiving safe with new parachutes, equipment, and safety measures.

"I think all the women that were there on the team when they went home, all the newspapers, TV shows, everything wanted to hear about it," Kim noted.

“It inspired a lot of people, I think maybe to get involved in the sport after all.”

GOING FOR GOLD, AGAIN

Just over six decades after her return home from helping the United States win gold, Kim is inspiring a new generation of skydivers by attempting the hallowed feat of 1,000 lifetime jumps.

Doing so would earn her the Gold Wings, an achievement obtained by her late husband, with whom she started the journey for in 2003 with about 400 total jumps on her record.

“My dream originally was to get to 1,000 jumps so we’d both have it,” Kim said.

She started putting in several jumps, racking up her total to 542 within a few years.

Kim became encouraged at how close she was getting, so she laid out a plan to get all her jumps in by late 2026 or early 2027, around the time of her 88th birthday.

The age-defying feat has been cause for immense support from the skydiving community and the over 45,000 members of the USPA.

To avoid the risk of injury, which could stop Kim's pursuit altogether, she must have a tandem with her during her jumps from this point on.

"One really bad one could end the whole process,” she said.

That many tandem jumps would typically cost a considerable amount of money, but members of the community all over the country and the world have pitched in to help Kim reach her Gold Wings.

Kim praised her skydiving family and Sherry Butcher, the USPA National Director, for the assistance.

"I have to thank Sherry Butcher for that,” she said.

"Now I’m really realizing that from what I started out with…has come into this huge, worldwide skydiving family.”

Kim seems more motivated than ever and frequently jumps with her children and grandchildren on her journey to get the Gold Wings and complete the goal she started with her late husband.

When asked about her persistence, she said:

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"It’s one of those things that you set out to do, and if you don’t finish the job and complete your dream, what’s the point?”

DZ operators and instructors can find more information here on donating a few jumps to help Kim reach her goal.

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