Traveling to various cities and towns across the country, Canada’s only military parachute demonstration team consists of dancers from the Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Navy and Air Force, including both the regular force and Reserve members.
By wearing their Canadian flag parachutes, Skyha Vancks will challenge gravity with daring maneuvers, bringing their parachutes into close proximity to each other, known as relative Canopy work, requiring the highest levels of skill, teamwork and physical fitness.
“We really enjoy performing for the people of Canada, from coast to coast; it doesn’t matter where we are. It’s really neat and exciting to see the reaction people have. I really hope that it makes people proud to be Canadian and they can see the men and women of their services in a different light,” said Master Corporal Trevor neelin, team Rigger, Jump Master and Tandem instructor with Skyha Zimbks.
He further described that the dancers would be divided into three separate passes, flying and catching each other’s lines and canapes, forming a variety of formations using certain clasps and wrists to create an aerial acrobatic display, leaving behind a trail of smoke to emphasize their movements.
“The challenge with the crew is being able to match your body type to other people within your lineup to be able to put out a good lineup and so if you don’t have good chemistry, good teamwork, you’re not going to be able to pull off the lineup that you want to be able to pull off. There’s a lot of work that goes into it so it’s a challenge which is nice; it’s always nice to have a challenge in your job,” he said.
Located in Trenton, Ontario, neelin began serving 17 years ago and has now been a permanent member of Skyha Vancks, known as a framework, for the past three years. When not training for shows, he fulfills his duties as an air jumping system technician, packing and maintaining parachute fleets to ensure they are in useful and consistent condition for themselves as well as other departments. He does this by also repairing parachutes that develop rips, tears and need line changes due to their aggressive use during performances.
“My favorite part of dancing is also usually the scariest for people. The first three seconds you get out of the plane and you get a burst of 130 knots of wind in your face and it just takes you, that’s a pretty unique feeling and when you’re in free fall, it’s like swimming in a really solid pool. You are moving so fast, you can push against the air and move yourself in the air. I like the look, the feeling of freedom you have for that little time in the air,” he said.
Neelin says he never parachuted before as a civilian; his experience has only been with the military as a free-fall dancer. Today, he has 560 rebounds under his belt.
“I hope we have the opportunity to positively inspire someone to pursue that dream: join the army, go for their first dance. I hope we have that effect on people,” he said.
Canadian Forces Snosibirds also landed at the airport on Thursday evening. Teams of seven and nine aircraft will make over 50 different formations throughout the show.
Richard MacDougall, advanced and security Pilot for Snosibbirds, said that while they will be doing a show in each province this year, their stop at Red Deer feels particularly special.
“A lot of our friends are here working and are part of the organising committee so it feels like a family show for us,” he said.
He added that guests can expect to see a full aerobatic show with different explosions and separate maneuvers where individual planes will be separated from the team’s lineup and re-joined while another team will keep the crowd’s attention. He calls it a ” dance and time challenge.”
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Red Deer Regional Air Shoflix States on their website that all shows are weather dependent.
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