As he prepared to plummet more than three miles, George McGovern took stock of what he was about to do.
But without changing his mind, out the twin-engine Beechcraft he went, taking part in a tandem jump near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to celebrate his 88th birthday Monday.
“It went fine,” he said a few hours after the skydive. “I was very, very pleased with it. I was pleased I had the guts to jump out at 18,000 feet.”
As he prepared to plummet more than three miles, George McGovern took stock of what he was about to do.
But without changing his mind, out the twin-engine Beechcraft he went, taking part in a tandem jump near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to celebrate his 88th birthday Monday.
“It went fine,” he said a few hours after the skydive. “I was very, very pleased with it. I was pleased I had the guts to jump out at 18,000 feet.”
McGovern was strapped to senior jump master Cristofer Parente at Skydive Space Center in Titusville. McGovern said it was a peaceful flight, and he described the landing as “gentle.”
The former World War II bomber pilot never had to bail out of a plane during his service in the Army Air Corps. But he decided to jump Monday to prove to himself he could do it and also to bring attention to his long crusade against hunger.
McGovern said he felt the attention he gained from the jump could be used to put the spotlight on the need to help developing countries feed their citizens. He said he thinks this was a “serious, positive comment” on helping feed hungry people.
He wore a wire during the plummet and made comments to local media about world hunger as the earth drew him near.
McGovern said he has probably made his one and only jump. He doesn’t think there will be a sequel on a future birthday.
“I doubt it,” he said. “I think once was enough.”
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