WATCH! Local man performs barrel rolls strapped to wing of vintage airplane

For wingwalker, Jason Phelan from Emper, the tension mounted long before he soared 1,000 metres into the air last week, strapped to the top of the wing of a 1940s Boeing Stearman flying at over 130kmh, to help save the red panda.

Just days before he was due to take to the skies, news broke that one of the team aircraft was in an accident at Bournemouth Air Show, when the engine failed and the pilot had to ditch the plane into Poole Harbour.

Fortunately, pilot and wingwalker suffered only minor injuries due to the skill of the pilot – however, it meant a pause to all promotion of Jason’s flight until they knew whether public wingwalking flights could go ahead.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner this week, Jason said he was given the “green light” on Monday evening of last week and “psyched” himself up again.

On Wednesday, the day before his hair-raising escapade was due to go ahead, he left Dublin Airport for Bristol.

“I was full of excitement as it was the culmination of two and a half years of planning,” he said, but then news came through that no flights would take place on the Thursday, September 9.

“At that point my heart sank. I thought to myself that this really wasn’t going to happen.”

Following discussions with the team and after sorting out a few “personal logistics”, he finally got to complete his wingwalk on Friday last.

“I don’t think I can put into words the thrilling experience of being 3000ft up, diving down into a loop, completing barrel rolls, stall turns and a Cuban eight. A life time of memories have been created,” he said.

Forty-eight-year-old Jason is Flights Operations administration officer with the Irish Aviation Authority and a freelance aviation photographer.

He is the son of Mick and Ann (née Gray) Phelan from Emper and attributes his love of aviation to the fact that they brought him to the Abbeyshrule Air Show when he was 18 months old, and subsequent shows in the UK.

He now divides his time between work in Dublin and the family home in Emper.

Jason has been working with the Red Panda Network for the last few years to help save an endangered creature whose natural habitat is under threat. So far, Jason’s aerobatics last week has raised nearly €2,400 for the cause.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/wingwalking4redpandanetwork