At 83, Jim plans to stay one jump ahead!

By Marc McGowan
MEET Australia’s oldest active skydiver – 83-year-old Phillip Island resident Jim Brierley.
Mr Brierley performed his 3000th skydive at Tooradin Airfield on Saturday morning and plans on continuing his high-flying deeds for some time to come.
“You get a buzz and everybody else gets a buzz,” he said.
“When we land, we all go slightly mad and give each other a ‘high five’ and then that’s it.
“We pack up our parachutes and wait for the next one.”
The sport has taken Mr Brierley all over the world, including New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Hawaii and Jordan.
His first foray into skydiving was in December 1942 during the Second World War, when he was training to become a paratrooper in the British Army.
After a 40-year hiatus, Mr Brierley took up skydiving again in 1983 and has been leaping out of planes ever since.
But as for the attention his achievement has attracted – which included a news segment on Channel 10 last Friday night – Mr Brierley believes it is over the top.
“It’s not really what I’m seeking. I’m just a skydiver who is a bit long in the tooth,” he said.
Mr Brierley said his 3000th jump was not too much different to the 2999 that preceded it.
“The jump itself was not really anything special,” he said.
“There was just a lot more razzmatazz. We had four television channels, and radio stations from as far away as Sydney.”
Mr Brierley lists his highlight as skydiving from 25,500 feet at the old Pakenham airstrip, where he was a member for two decades.
The next major event on Mr Brierley’s skydiving calendar is the ninth World Parachutists Over Phorty Society Meet and Championships in Queensland in April.
The competition is for skydivers over the age of 40.
One of the most anticipated events on the schedule is the “hit and rock”, where competitors aim to land as close as possible to the target area and then sit on a strategically placed rocking chair. Participants are timed on how quickly they can complete the process.
While his golfing buddies are badgering him to give up the skies for the pristine greens of lawn bowls, Mr Brierley has other ideas.
“Some of the golfers have gone on to play bowls when they have found they’re not as active as they once were,” he said.
“They have a lot of fun with it but I’m not ready to take it up just yet.”