Most 95-year-olds would be happy to be standing with their feet firmly planted on the ground, blowing out candles to celebrate their birthday, but adventure still courses through the veins of Jan Hystek.
After riding his Honda 500cc motorbike up to the paragliding launch site with his grandson, the Tweed Heads resident couldn’t wait to leap into the sky.
“I’m not nervous. It’s with my son and I trust him to the end of this world. I’m very excited about it. I will be the oldest person he’s ever taken up,” Jan said confidently.
It’s been a few years since he last floated through the sky, but he said his son Phil, who owns Paragliding Queensland, loves to take him up.
Jan started a paragliding course about five years ago but didn’t finish it before he ran out of time, finding it hard to have the time getting to the site from his home.
As a former commercial pilot being up in the sky was second nature to him.
Phil believes Jan now holds the record for the oldest tandem paraglider in Australia and beats Phil’s grandmother, who he took up a few years ago at the age of 92.
“It was terrific,” Jan said of the eight-minute flight. “He did a couple of wing overs (turning the kite upside down) and I went ‘wow’.”
“You are with nature and it’s quiet and I’m with my son.”
Phil joked about the fact his father used to try to encourage him to take the controls in the plane when he was younger, and he’d refuse. Now it was his father’s turn to refuse to during their tandem paraglide.
Jan said the key to a healthy old age was to stay active and surround yourself with friends.
The 95-year-old is also the oldest member of the Ulysis motorbike club, the oldest sailing teacher for disabled on the Tweed River, cycles everywhere and does ballroom dancing twice a week.
“I feel great and enjoy life. Getting up in the morning and knowing you have something to do and having lovely friends.”
