Page 16 - Copyright 2013 - Pamplin Media Group

“I got into this because I’d al-

ways had a serious dream of

flying when I was a kid. I had

flying dreams and I dreamed I

actually was flying, kind of

swimming through the air and

I’d actually have a smile on my

face.”

He continued to have occa-

sional flying dreams well into

adulthood. At age 50, Jackson’s

desire to fly led him to try a

couple flights with an instruc-

tor on a powered parachute —

similar to a powered paraglider,

but with a larger motor and the

capacity for two people to ride

together.

Then he saw the magazine

advertisement of a powered-

paraglider instructor based in

Ventura, Calif., and became

intrigued with the sport. Jack-

son had his first opportunity to

view powered paragliders up

close in 2005 while he and his

wife Tena were driving to Baja

California on vacation. With Tena’s blessing, the cou-

ple made a detour to Ventura to watch others learning

to use powered paragliders.

“I saw these guys doing this and I fell in love with it

and I thought, I’ve got to try this.” Jackson said.

Jackson, 58, is the casework supervisor for Child

Welfare in the Jefferson County office of the state De-

partment of Human Services. He has been a Central

Oregonian since 1980, when he, Tena, and their two

young daughters moved here from Kansas.

Although Jackson has developed several hobbies

over years — woodworking, whitewater rafting, boat-

ing — none of them gives him the same kind of adren-

aline rush that fuels his love of powered paragliding.

“Just that sense of freedom. You can fly where you

want, you can see the world from a wholly different

perspective that nobody else can see.”

One of Jackson’s favorite powered-paragliding

memories is of flying around among the hot air bal-

loons that used to be part of the Collage of Culture (a

Jefferson County community celebration) some years

ago. One year, Jackson was surprised to encounter the

cluster balloonist who rode through the sky in a lawn

chair.

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“I always dreamed of flying when I was a kid”

Jackson meticulously preps his thin chute strings, a tangle in which could be disas-

terous, then slides into the 50-plus-pound motorpack.