In retirement, most people choose to slow down a bit. Go for a leisurely stroll, maybe pop out for a coffee, or take up gardening.
Well, not Niels Hanson.
The 75-year-old, who lives in Clifton, has a penchant for jumping out of planes, sually at 12,000 feet, and he does it most weekends of the year.
In 1966 while a member of the Danish Merchant navy, Niels Hanson met a Bristol girl in Cardiff, and they eventually settled in her home town.
His life meandered through quite peacefully and normally until he hit 46. Working as a building contractor he got into a conversation in the Clifton Wine Bar one Friday after work. Someone mentioned parachuting.
He said: “A guy called Chris was telling me how great it was. And I’d had about six or seven pints on board by that time, so stupidly said it was something I would like to give a go.”
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The friend held him to his word and the following week he jumped out of his first ever plane. Although he admits to being scared, he loved it. He caught the bug. What began as parachuting, evolved to free falling, more commonly known as skydiving. He is now the best skydiver in the world for his age.
Why does he love it so much?
He said: “It’s the elation, the intensity, all your feelings are exaggerated tenfold. It’s very hard to describe. Everything just happens so fast and quick, but your brain slows everything down. Such a buzz.”
Most weekends Niels heads off somewhere to skydive , constantly defying his age.”I keep as fit as I can. Eat right, and I drink less these days. But I don’t do much exercise to be honest, other than skydiving. I guess I have just got lucky genes.”
Age hasn't really changed his approach to diving, although he admits to being a touch more cautious these days, and adjusts the equipment slightly. He explained: “I tend to change to a bigger canopy as I fall now, so slows me down on the drop. Can be murder on the joints on impact.”
“Also if I pick up injuries it can take a bit longer to heal, so need to be a bit careful,” he added.
What does his family think of this? “They all think I am mad. I don’t have kids, but my nephews and nieces think doing it at my age is silly. They do worry about me.”
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In 2012, Niels reached the pinnacle of skydiving. He entered the over 60s World Championships in Holland, alongside Chris Shawe, Freddie Demann, and Geoff Chandler, and won. He said: “We trained on about 100 jumps in the build up, and got our game tight. And we won gold. It was amazing.”
“But we stood the team down after that and retired. So we remain undefeated,” he laughed.
Niels has no real intention to slow down, and grow old gracefully, and says he will continue to defy his age and jump out of planes, infact he is off to Sailsbury Plain this weekend to do just that.
At 75 years of age that is quite remarkable. He is simply Bristol’s flying birdman.
