It’s a bird, it’s a banana — no, it’s Rick Mercer in a gyroplane
BRESLAU — So there’s a giant yellow banana cruising across the sky, a thousand feet above Kitchener.
And CBC’s jovial jester Rick Mercer — wearing a Snoopy-white bubble helmet, marshmallow earmuffs and powder-blue shorts — sits grinning in the open-air double cockpit while twisting the front control stick and laughing maniacally.
A helicopter, like a hummingbird Red Baron, is right on Mercer’s jaundiced tail.
How did this bizarre celebrity gyroplane sighting, from just two weeks ago, come to be?
It’s all the work of Neil Laubach of Fergus.
The 47-year-old gyro instructor, with 20 years’ experience flying helicopters, has run his gyroplane pilot training school out of the Region of Waterloo International Airport since 2012. It’s the only one in the province, he says.
Late last year, on a buddy’s advice, he sent an email to “The Rick Mercer Report.”
Mercer likes to do unusual things on his CBC Television show. So why not offer a trip in Laubach’s carbon-fibre gyroplane, which uses air flow to spin the rooftop rotor blades like a metallic maple key? Wouldn’t that be an uplifting experience for Rick and his viewers?
The email invitation got sent. Then, silence ruled the airwaves.
“Didn’t hear anything. Didn’t hear anything. Didn’t hear anything,” said Laubach, a United Kingdom native who has also lived in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Three weeks ago, the reply came from the show producers.
Mercer was interested. A segment storyboard was drawn up. A chase helicopter was hired to shoot the aerial video from this travelling set in the sky.
But Laubach, who spent about two and a half hours in the air with Mercer, needed to make sure his quick-witted student wouldn’t get too mischievous in mid-air.
These carbon-fibre gyroplanes, which get their forward thrust from an engine and back rotor, go for $80,000 to $140,000, after all.
“Rick’s a nice enough guy,” said Laubach, who plans to watch his gyroplane segment when it airs on Mercer’s season-opening episode on Tuesday night at 8 p.m.
“And he’s smart enough. But he tends to enjoy a little jackassery.”
Laubach had to make sure safety came first and the shtick came second. No flying tomfoolery unfolded. But Mercer got to crack wise while taking the controls of the craft for part of a flight that also took them over Guelph and Fergus, Hamilton and Niagara. “This is outdoor flying,” Laubach said. “The wind, the noise, everything is surrounding you. You’re very much out there in the open. ”
And that gyroplane experience, Laubach said, seemed to appeal to his television guest.
“He was genuinely impressed. I think he genuinely enjoyed the experience.”