To celebrate 80th birthday, man jumps out of plane

By John Crane

Published: July 23, 2008

Tommy Geyer jumped out of airplanes 27 times while a paratrooper in the Pacific during World War II.

Jump No. 28 was on July 13 in Taylorsville, N.C., for his 80th birthday. Geyer said he did it to see if he still had it in him.

“You really wonder if you’re the man you were when you were 17,” Geyer said Wednesday during an interview at his log-cabin home in the Tightsqueeze community.

Geyer contacted his brother, an airplane inspector in North Carolina, who told him about Carolina Sky Sports in Taylorsville. Geyer then contacted the training school.

Since the retired schoolteacher, who was with the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne in 1945-46, had skydived as a paratrooper before, all he had to do was get an OK from a doctor.

Though Geyer underwent open-heart surgery about eight years ago and has had about a dozen catheterizations, a cardiologist gave him the thumbs up.

“The doctor told me, ‘Physically, you can make it, but you’re out of your mind,’” Geyer said.

He paid $100 to have his adventure shot on video.

Geyer and his guide, who was strapped to Geyer’s back, dropped 7,000 feet before opening the chute, he said.  The last part just before hitting the ground felt “like sliding down a sliding board,” Geyer said.

The fall lasted about three or four minutes, he said.

“It didn’t take long,” Geyer said.

The 10,000-foot jump left Geyer exhilarated.

“It pumps your blood a bit,” he said.

Entering his 80s, Geyer said he stays busy and keeps his brain exercised. Geyer built the log cabin he and his wife live in about 15 years ago. He recently rebuilt an old truck and takes care of a jackass named Jackson.

Geyer starts classes soon at Averett University, where he will take courses in criminology. He won’t pursue a degree but he says he’d like to get into surveillance – something Geyer said no one would expect an 80-year-old to do.

Lifelong learning is nothing new to Geyer.

He holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in natural science and the other in biological science, from the University of North Carolina. Geyer also earned two master’s degrees from the school – one in biological science and the other in education.

He taught at Gretna and Chatham high schools and at Hargrave Military Academy before retiring.

As for skydiving, Geyer isn’t ready to land yet. From age 17 to 80 is quite a gap, but Geyer is already anxious to take another leap.

“I enjoyed it so and I’m going to do it again,” he said. “I have to do it before this summer’s over.”

• Contact John R. Crane at or (434) 791-7987.