Talk about trying to beat the reaper.

Prosecutors preparing the case against accused 1960s hijacker Rafael Pena Soltren want to depose an aging accomplice who’s in failing health and may be “unavailable” to testify at trial.

Miguel Castro, 78, “has suffered through heart surgery” and been in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation homes, prosecutor Ryan Poscablo said in Manhattan federal court yesterday.

Castro, who lives in Miami, was among three hijackers who used guns and knives to commandeer a Pan American flight to Havana, Cuba, in 1968.

He served a 12-year prison sentence after his 1976 arrest and guilty plea.

Soltren, 66, was the FBI’s longest-wanted fugitive until he flew back from Cuba and surrendered to authorities in October, reportedly because he wanted to see his wife and other relatives living in the United States.