SUDBURY — A 27-year-old Sudbury man has died in a skydiving incident in Gatinuea, near Ottawa on Saturday.
According to various media reports, the man died while performing a "wingsuit" jump near the Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport on Saturday morning. The victim's name has not been released.
An experienced skydiver, investigators speculate the man's parachute didn't deploy properly.
He crash-landed in the backyard of a home a few kilometres from the airport. Found unconscious by rescuers, he was pronounced dead in hospital.
The man had been taking part in an event hosted by Parachute Gatineau-Ottawa Skydive (a.k.a. Go Skydive) called Rockstar Boogie, in which skydivers perform different types of jumps beyond simply falling out of a plane, such as group jumps in which the participants link together to produce geometric shapes.
Media reports have it that the victim was jumping in a "wingsuit," similar to a hang-glider, but worn on the body. Webbing that extends from the wrists to the ankles, and also between the legs to the feet, allow divers to glide at speeds exceeding 300 kilometres and hour and glide for several kilometres before deploying a parachute.
Go Skydive issued a statement in which it extends its condolences to the man's friends and family.