She finally did it.
Local resident Bonnie Zelinskie jumped out of a plane and parachuted back down to earth Oct. 9.
You might know lots of people who have gone skydiving, but how many 83-year-olds do you know who have done it?
Zelinskie placed this item numero uno on her bucket list and refused to listen to naysayers.
“You can’t imagine what it’s like. You do not have the feeling of falling at all – you just seem like you are floating up there,” Zelinskie said. “I said I wanted to stay up there for an hour and I think it only takes two or three minutes. I guess the thrill of it – you don’t realize the time.”
Zelinskie said overall they fell 6,000 feet in 45 seconds. But she was in good hands.
Zelinskie made her jump tightly connected to Michael Elliot, the same man who tandem-jumped twice with President George H. Bush. President Bush was 85 when he made his last jump.
“I think that inspired a lot of elderly people to go out and do things that they didn’t think they could do before,” said Elliot. “I think it showed people that there is a lot of life left to live.”
The same day that Zelinskie jumped, Elliot also took out a 95-year-old man.
“You’ve got this man at 95 and Bonnie at 83 – their energy was overwhelming,” Elliot said. “I think it sends out such a positive message.”
During Elliot’s military career he served with the Golden Knights, a United States Army Parachute Team. He has also served in combat zones in the Persian Gulf War, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Now he makes patriotism his daily work through The Ranger Group, an all-veteran parachute team that travels around offering demonstrations to serve and give back to other veterans.
“My goal is to be able to do a parachute jump into these homes with a POW flag and just say thank you,” Elliot said.
Elliot is currently in Texas where he will do a tandem jump with a soldier who lost his vision because of an improvised explosion device or IED last year.
“If I can make that smile bigger then I feel really good about what I’m doing,” Elliot said.
Zelinskie said Elliot definitely put her at ease. In fact, she couldn’t believe how calm she was before the jump.
“I think I just had so much faith in him,” Zelinskie said. “I figured, ‘Hey, if he could take George Bush there couldn’t be anybody better because they are really going to check out someone jumping with the president.’”
She said she appreciates her fellow Tryon Estates resident and neighbor, LTC John Albree, for putting the two in touch.
This isn’t the first daredevil moment in Zelinskie’s life, though. Earlier this year she was briefly appeased with flight through a wind tunnel in Maggie Valley. In her younger days she was a risk-taker on the ski slopes as well, deriving her need for speed from her father, who drove race cars.
“I guess the only other thing is to go into space but I think that is $1 million, so I guess I’m going to have to forget about that one,” she said. “I don’t know what else there is to do.”