Scott Manning

Who was Scott Manning?

Scott Manning was a Canadian athlete and aerobatic pilot of the world's smallest jet, the BD-5J.

He grew up in Kitchener, Ontario, and earned a degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo in 1985. Having played for four years on the Waterloo Warriors football team, he pursued a career in professional football, at a weight of 290 lbs. and 6'3". In the 1980s, he attended training camps with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Montreal Alouettes. Scott pursued his football career until a serious knee injury caused a blood clot that almost killed him and rendered him incapable of continuing in the sport. Although told by doctors that he would probably never walk again, Manning slowly regained his mobility.

After two years of recovery, Manning decided that he simply "wanted to fly jets in airshows" and set out pursuing private and commercial pilot's licences and eventually earned flight time in some of the world's most advanced aerobatic aircraft.

In 1990 he purchased and decided to construct "The Stinger" BD-5J Microjet airplane kit. Construction work took over 6000 work hours. At the end of several engine malfunctions, and countless technical hiccups, his BD-5J emerged as a tiny, but formidable competitor in the airshow circuit and aerobatics arena. Manning piloted his own plane, and was known as the tallest BD-5 pilot in the world, and the operator of the only BD-5J model in Canada.