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93-year-old Kansas man completes successful parachute jump

Calvin Candiff ( l ) with his Skydive partner Jason.
Calvin Candiff ( l ) with his Skydive partner Jason.

ABILENE-A Kansas man successfully completed his first parachute jump on Friday.

Calvin Canniff, 93, Junction City, completed his tandem jump with the help of the K-State Parachute Club of Abilene.

The senior minister at the First Christian Church in Junction City Ronnie Roberts helped arrange the tandem jump.

A tandem jump is a skydive attached to a partner.

Roberts traveled to Abilene where the skydive occurred. He noted Canniff brought several layers of clothing due to the cool weather conditions at the higher elevations.

He was given a little instruction and they loaded up in the airplane and took off.

Roberts was watching when Canniff landed after his jump.

“As we were watching the plane someone yelled and we looked off to the west of us, and there were all kinds of chutes and jumpers coming down,” said Roberts.

The last jumper was Calvin and his partner.

“They came down and just floated down, an easy drop. Several of the guys who arrived earlier received him. So it was a nice easy comedown, said Roberts.

Canniff was smiling and seemed to be glad to be back on earth, and that his biggest concern had been the cold during the jump.

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