There used to be an “Ottawa Airshow”. I used to go. It was really cool. Then for some reason I’m unaware of, it was no more.
Then these guys from Vintage Wings started restoring old aircraft and flying them out of the Gatineau Airport. That’s the airport where I jump. It’s cool, we see them all the time, but not everyone does.
So the Vintage Wings guys started inviting people on specific days to show off their planes. It used to be free. Then it got biiig. Lots of people, traffic nightmare, and it would affect our skydiving operations.
Fast forward a few years, and it’s now a full-on airshow, with the snowbirds, F-18s, Lancaster Bomber, etc.
They also put out a NOTAM to close the airspace (basically shutting down our skydiving operations in Gatineau for the weekend). Over the last 2 years, they’ve been inviting us to open the airshow… Now we’re talking!
They’ve been talking about getting a “special plane” for a few years, but it never happened – until now!
This year, we got to jump out of an Antonov An-2, which is the largest single engine Biplane in the world. Built in Russia in the 1930s… what could go wrong?
So the video is of me wearing my wrist-mounted hand-cam (used for Tandem Skydiving mostly), exiting the An-2 at 4,500 feet, and deploying my custom 60ft long banner. It’s an “eel” (Google “Burning Man Eel”). It’s basically 10 times longer than my parachute is wide, and is a crowd favorite. This is not your average skydive.
I can jump this banner into any event, given enough organisational lead time – See my Exhibition Jumps page for details.
So here you go. Enjoy!
— Alain Bard has been an active skydiver since 2003.Alain holds the following CPSA ratings: Skydiving Coach Level 2, Jumpmaster (JM), Ground Control Instructor (GCI), Skydive School Instructor (SSI), Skydive School Examiner (SSE), Exhibition Jump Rating (EJR), Parchute Rigger (RA). He is also a Skydiving Tandem Instructor.
Alain is a certified Hot Air Balloon Pilot (Transport Canada)
Alain is a certified Paramotor Pilot (Transport Canada)
Alain is a certified Paraglider Pilot (HPAC)
