74-year-old with lifelong love of flying beats cancer, returns to sky for wingsuit record

At an age when many seniors would start taking it easy, lifelong adventurer Richard “Rich” Greenwood (USA, b. 20 January 1952) is still flying high.

Nearly every weekend, the septuagenarian shows up to the dropzone near Belen Regional Airport in New Mexico, USA, and takes an airplane up into the blue sky over the desert-like flatlands below.

With the confident manner of someone who’s spent over 50 years skydiving, Rich will zip up his wingsuit, and topple through the open door of the plane into the empty air below. Despite the speed and the whistling winds, he keeps his arms and legs outstretched, balancing on the breeze until he can pull his parachute and safely float back to the ground.

And though this experience may be common for Rich, on 5 June this year, the Albuquerque resident finally flew into the record books after becoming the oldest person to fly in a wingsuit (male). 

He claimed the record at the incredible age of 74 years and 136 days old, officially taking the title from Robert Felt (USA) from Wisconsin, who flew at the age of 72 years and 64 days old in May of this year.

Ever since he was a kid, Rich says he’s been fascinated by airplanes and parachutes. He remembers being five years old, making little parachutes out of a piece of tissue paper, tape, and strings – then climbing atop the garage roof and chucking them off, much to his mother’s dismay.

As soon as he turned 18 – the legal age to take jump lessons – he raced straight to the local dropzone and began classes in skydiving, later nabbing his license and making his passion official.

For Rich, it was literally love at first flight – and over the years, he continued pursuing his passion for aviation by getting a commercial pilot’s certificate, aircraft mechanics certificate, parachute rigger certificate, and finally, a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Master’s in Aviation Safety.

Up until he retired in 2018, he used his degree in Aerospace engineering to work as an aircraft accident investigator for the US Air Force.

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Yet for someone who loves airplanes – why would he choose to fly in a wingsuit, where you’re almost completely exposed? Turns out, Rich had a simple, Top Gun-esque answer… a need for speed. 

“When wingsuits started to become commercially available in the mid-90s I was drawn to them,” said Rich to GWR. “Double or triple your freefall time? Fly long distances over the ground like Superman? What’s not to like?”

He bought his first wingsuit in 1997, and the rest was history. Over the next three decades, he’d suit up and fly around with his nylon wings, soaring above the American landscape with the calm nature of an aviator.

Unfortunately, in 2016, Rich had to take a break from jumping to get a double knee replacement. Afterwards, he started gaining weight, and then got diagnosed with cancer – a difficult struggle that kept him out of the sky for years. 

“I always missed jumping, so I set a goal of losing enough weight to jump safely again,” he said. “I lost 80 lbs (36 kg), and, thanks to the Mayo Clinic, beat the cancer and started jumping again in 2023.”

And in early 2026, Rich was reading Parachutist Magazine when he saw a story about Thomas Conner (USA), the then-67-year-old who broke the record for the oldest wingsuit jump. 

“I thought: ‘67 years old? I’m 74 and currently jumping in a wingsuit. I’ll show this young whippersnapper a thing or two!’” he joked. 

So he started looking into the paperwork and evidence required for a Guinness World Records title, eventually gathering all his data and preparing to make his attempt. 

“For me, it was basically just another jump with a lot of paperwork!” he reminisced, adding that it required lots of planning but ended up being completely doable.

And for everyone wanting to follow in the footsteps of this soaring septuagenarian, Rich recommends starting with a tandem jump – which is the best way to find out if skydiving is up-your-alley. 

“If it ignites the passion, take the class to jump by yourself… after about 200 jumps you can start wingsuit training,” he explained. “I like to say it just costs three or four thousand dollars to get started, and then half your income for the rest of your life!”

Yet with that said, Rich has thoroughly enjoyed the last 50 years he spent in the air… so he also suggests that no matter your age, if you have a similar passion for skydiving or aviation, to “just go for it!”