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 today.

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 U.S.

Defense lawyer James Neuman today complained in court that prosecutors had yet to produce exhibits from the trial of an accused co-conspirator who was acquitted in 1969.

Poscablo said an “exhaustive” search turned up only one-half of a box of records from the 40-year-old case, but Judge Alvin Hellerstein told him to keep looking.

“Your success or lack of success in these efforts could become important in the disposition of this case,” the judge warned.