Poor weather conditions and heavy cloud cover are preventing the Canadian Armed Forces Skyhawks from jumping over Bridgewater this morning.
Captain John Hart tells Acadia News, they have pretty strict guidelines when it comes to jumping.
“The cloud cover, the ceiling or basically how low the clouds are, is sitting at 800 feet from the ground; with any kind of parachuting operations and in particular with the performances that we conduct, we need much higher than that,” says Captain Hart, adding, “even the C-130 Hercules Aircraft that we’re flying courtesy of the Royal Canadian Airforce, they (pilots) have to be able to see the ground and they need at least 1,000 feet of visibility in order to even dispatch us.”
He says it really comes to safety at the end of the day.
The team is currently at Halifax Stanfield International Airport waiting for the all clear should the weather conditions improve, ready to jump at a moments notice.
“We love jumping and it’s killing us not getting on that bird and flying over Bridgewater,” adds Hart.
In a statement issued earlier this morning, the Skyhawks stated: “We will reassess delaying the performance to this afternoon and have an update at 12:00pm Atlantic Time.
Only time, and Mother Nature of course, will tell.
Story by Craig Power
@CraigTPower
power.craig@radioabl.ca
Above Photo: Captain John Hart, of Liverpool, NS & Member of the Canadian Armed Forces Skyhawks Parachute Team. Photo contributed by the Canadian Armed Forces © 2018 and used with permission.
