87-Year-old sky diving granny becomes Australia’s oldest daredevil

It wasn’t always the 87-year-old’s dream to free-fall.

“My son organised it and when he first asked me about it I said no. I haven’t been terribly well but in the end I just thought ‘blast it, I’ll do it’,” she told the Area News.

She proved she had more guts than most people half her age when she didn’t even flinch as she plummeted at 250 kilometres an hour.

“I didn’t want to back out, I wasn’t going all that way for nothing,” she said.

“When he (the instructor) told me to undo my seatbelt and swing my legs over the side, that was a bit scary jumping out into space, but I had every confidence in him.”

Taylor said it was an exhilarating experience that she would never forget.

“The ground looked like a fantastic quilt spread out underneath you,” she said.

“A rainbow came out and the clouds looked like cotton wool.

“The worst part was the wind hitting you in the face at 250 kilometres an hour and it was absolutely freezing but I was pretty rugged up in all the gear they had- you walked like a space person when you got it all on.”

This wasn’t this grandmother’s first brush with danger.

“I went up in a Tiger Moth a few years back and they did the loop-the-loop and all that,” she said.

“It took me a moth to do my hair again.

“Everyone I asked who said they wouldn’t do it (skydiving) for a fortune I couldn’t believe how sooky they were.

“I enjoyed all of it and I’d do it again.”

This daredevil must be addicted to the adrenalin rush, the Griffith Aero Club is planning to take her up this weekend and teach her to fly. She also hopes to go hang-gliding soon.

Photo by Getty