James C. Wigginton and Alex Coker of the United States broke the world record for the highest tandem parachute jump or skydive ever.
According to the Guinness World Record, the skydivers jumped from a momentous 42,018 ft (12,807 m) in Memphis, Tennessee, to set a new record for other skydivers in the world.
It is worth noting that a standard tandem skydive is done from between 8,000 and 14,000 ft., whereas a commercial passenger plane usually flies at around 35,000 ft.
Wigginton and Coker made the new world record back on May 25, 2024, in honor of their late dear friend and teammate Thomas J. Noonan III. They carried pictures of Tom and his girlfriend Julie Watkins with them during the skydive.
Alex confessed, “I felt at peace with this jump. There was a lot of preparation, this wasn’t a regular skydive... There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
Moreover, Wigginton, who already held this record with Arkadiusz Majewski of Poland in 2019 after they jumped from 11,405 m (37,417 ft), said, “I was supposed to jump with my teammate Tom Noonan, and he incurred an injury, and so I ended up having to jump with a gentleman from Poland.”
“In 2021, we attempted this jump from 41,000 feet, and unfortunately it resulted in Tom’s passing. Tom was in his mid-40s and spent his entire career as a tandem skydiver, so everybody around the world knew of Tom Noonan,” he continued.
Tom tragically died after a malfunction of the oxygen system, which caused him and everyone on board hypoxia.
