During his 50 years of flying, which he celebrated on July 19 this year, Mr Martin has notched up 148 flights to New York, 138 to London and almost three million miles in the air — and he shows no signs of having his wings clipped just yet.

Mr Martin who spent 20 years as News Editor at WIN Television in Wollongong, has dedicated his life to flying anywhere and everywhere and making it his mission to reach 1000 flights on Qantas.

And rest assured, with his 959th flight scheduled for the 2nd December, he’s going to get there … “because dropping dead is not really in my top ten”, he says, “the bucket list does not include it!”.

The veteran traveller says his friends keep giving him brochures on retirement homes and suggesting the time has come for him to slow down, but he’s got too many flights planned.

“I say to my doctor, who I have a great relationship with, ‘I don’t think I’m ready for it, I’m too busy, I can’t really spare the time for retirement living,” he toldnews.com.au on a recent flight. “I’ve got mountains to climb, things to do and flights to take’ and he says ‘John you will know when the time has come and there are worse things than having the time of your life and dropping dead.’”

He travels all over the world to pursue his twin loves of theatre and flying.

“I made my money as a news editor, it was a good salary and a good job and I spent most of it with the tax office and Qantas, and it gave me, I think, the best life in the world. The things I’ve done, the places I’ve been, it’s been wonderful!

And while his body might be showing the signs of old age, his mind is still as sharp as a tack.

Mr Martin can name every one of the 278 different aircraft he’s flown on — and the ones he hasn’t.

He records the registration of every single flying kangaroo aircraft he flies on and will always try and book on aircraft that he has never flown on before.

“The one I want the most is VH-OQA — Qantas’ first A380 called Nancy Bird Walton, I’d like that one,” he says of the aircraft that has so far escaped him.

In fact, Mr Martin loves flying so much that he often flies Sydney to Perth or Melbourne and back again in the one day — simply for the joy of the flight and to say G’Day to all his friends in the Qantas lounge.

“I love Perth on the A332, I’ll go over on the 8.15am, spend a couple of hours in Perth then come back at night. To me, that is a great thing to do when you retire.”

He says he loves everything about flying, the movies, talking to the crew about the aircraft and it’s history and can’t understand why people find flying a hassle.

“People don’t like airports, but I’m the one in a million who does, I love sitting in the airport watching planes coming in and going out, pushing back. They’re all interesting to me.

Mr Martin, who has never married and never had children often flies to a destination and back on Christmas Day because he considers Qantas his family — and says they put on a great Christmas lunch in the lounge.

He was chuffed to be presented with the keys to Qantas’ 75th Boeing 737-800 last week, a retro-inspired aircraft which featured exactly the same livery as the inaugural B747 flight he flew on in 1971.

But he says the key to his long life is his passion for flight.

“This is (flight number) 958 and I would think given a reasonable chance, I’ll reach the 1000 and we’ll probably get an A380 and go under the Harbour Bridge or loop the loop,” he joked.

“I would have liked to have done the 1000 in the 50th year, because it was neat and it was tidy and somehow it was me. 1000 flights is the next goal, if it’s going to happen, it will happen and I think it will.

“But then again, I could be dead tomorrow and if that’s the case, I’ve had a wonderful life.”

But don’t think Qantas’ most enthusiastic flyer will be taking any Frequent Flyer points with him.

“I tend to use the (points) before they get too big, because if I died before I used them, it would kill me, it would be the end of the world, I mean going up to heaven with Frequent Flyer Points unused! The man upstairs says you can’t use them for the last trip, so there’s just no way.”

SOURCE::::www.news.com.au

Natarajan