George Bush Sr. celebrates his 85th birthday with a sky-dive

Former US President George H.W. Bush celebrated his 85th birthday on June 12th with a tandem jump. The sporty ex- president had celebrated his 75th and 80th birtdays the same way. He leaped from a plane and zoomed downward in freefall before parachuting safely to a spot near his Maine oceanfront home.

On June 12th ’09, Bush made the tandem jump from 10,500 feet with Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott of the Army’s Golden Knights, who guided them to a gentle landing . He said he enjoyed it so much that he planned to do it again when he turns 90. He told reporters that he jumped for two reasons: to experience the exhilaration of free-falling and to show that seniors can remain active and do fun things. He said, “Just because you’re old, that doesn’t mean you can’t do fun stuff. And you don’t want to sit around drooling in the corner.And you know, because I was president it sends a message all around. Go out and get something doing. Just because old guys can still have fun and still do stuff.”

More on: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/12/national/main5082914.shtml

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/12/bush-makes-parachute-jump-on-85th-birthday-talks-about-issues/

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE50A2G520090111