Free as her birds - GIPSY JAN'S FLIGHTS OF FANCY

THE DARING PILOT AND STUNTWOMAN IS IN AWE OF THE GANNETS

- Fiona Fraser

Being up close to the many thousands of breeding gannets that call Cape Kidnappers home is Jan Chisum’s second favourite activity. She loves their cheeky personalities, their somewhat clumsy walk and how they steal seaweed from one another’s nests.

And, when the gannet chicks born on this rugged Hawke’s Bay coastline are ready to make their maiden voyage to Australia, Jan nervously holds her breath as they lift off, and up, and glide away.

“It’s pretty fabulous watching the breeding pairs nest, their chicks hatch and then see the young take their very first flight off the top of the Cape!”

The tour guide, who is part of the passionate team at Gannet Safaris Overland, says there’s just one thing she enjoys more than observing her beloved gannets – and that’s being airborne herself. “It’s a disease!” the 67-year-old accomplished pilot laughs.

Jan is, quite simply, obsessed with flight. Nicknamed “Gipsy Jan”, she is the proud owner of the only remaining Gipsy Moth in New Zealand. She – and her Moth – flew stunts for the TV One drama Jean, which told the story of Jean Batten, New Zealand’s most famous aviator.

And, wait for it, she lives in a hangar, right on the runway at the Bridge Pa Aerodrome, with a house attached. She and her Alaskan husband Jerry, a former commercial pilot, only have to roll up the doors, jump into one of their three aircraft, and taxi down to the tarmac. “We go out quite often and practice our formation flying – that’s good fun,” Jan tells as Jerry tinkers on a plane nearby.