Cadets at the Whitehorse Cadet Summer Training Centre received a special preview of the SkyHawks air show Tuesday.

The event was an overall success, but a hard landing resulted in a Whitehorse General Hospital stay for Sgt. Kevin Walker.

A hospital spokesperson confirmed this morning that Walker is a patient after being admitted Tuesday with non-life-threatening injuries. She could not expand on what his injuries are.

Walker was the ninth of 12 parachuters to jump, performing what are called "candy canes” – spirals of different-coloured smoke.

Walker completed nine spirals before coming in to land.

Capt. Indira Thackorie, the SkyHawks' public relations officer, said Tuesday after the incident that Walker had a very hard landing but he was "responsive” and "talking to the medics.

"The winds were very minimal here in the drop zone, and we're not exactly sure what happened. We just know he had a very hard landing,” she said.

Skydivers come in much faster when the winds are low, Thackorie added.

"But we're trained to come in in as little as no winds.”

Thackorie said accidents like this are not very common for the SkyHawks.

"We've not had very many injuries on the team at all in the last 41 years, though we know that skydiving is an inherently very dangerous sport,” she said.

"It can happen, and we all go in knowing that risk, but they are highly trained skydivers.

"During our training camp, they do about 170 jumps in five weeks, they do eight to 10 jumps a day and we always take every safety precaution to avoid things like this, but of course they can happen.”

Walker himself has completed more than 250 jumps, she said.

Walker has been a member of the Canadian Forces for 13 years. He completed his Basic Parachute course in 2001 and his Military Freefall Parachute course in 2006.

He's been deployed to Bosnia, Macedonia and Afghanistan twice.

Thackorie could not be reached later to confirm Walker's injuries.

The show kicked off with an accuracy competition. Two of the SkyHawks jumped from 2,500 feet, competing to see who could land closest to the target on the ground.

The CC-130J model Hercules carrying the divers then rose to about 6,000 feet for the remainder of the show, which included various formations.

"It was pretty fun to see all those cadets coming down, watching us jump, and you could see in their eyes they were quite impressed with what we did, which was rewarding for us,” said Capt. Pierre Pelletier, the team commander.

After the skydiving display, members of the SkyHawks and the Snowbirds returned to the training centre to enjoy a meal and conversation with the 140 or so cadets in attendance.

"The cadets were very fun in their questions about what we do,” said Pelletier said.

"They spent lunch with us, and then we packed our parachutes on the parade square with them, and they were asking lots of questions on how to pack parachutes and why stuff is folded that way.

"Every single job that we're doing, our goal is to connect with the Canadian population and every job we try to spend some time with the crowd,” he said.

The SkyHawks will be opening the Whitehorse air show at 4:30 this afternoon.

On Thursday, they will be heading to Oshkosh, Wis.

"We're very excited to be going to Oshkosh; it's the largest aviation event in the world,” said Thackorie.

This is the team's first time being invited to the event.

Besides the static displays of aircraft and helicopters at the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport, the Snowbirds are also part of this afternoon's air show. They are expected to take to the sky at approximately 5 p.m.

By Ainslie Cruickshank

Star Reporter