Page 17 - Copyright 2013 - Pamplin Media Group

“I’d forgotten that he was coming. I saw this guy

coming towards me and it looked like a giant bowl of

grapes. He was just kicking back in his lawn chair and

we passed within a couple hundred feet of each other,”

Jackson said.

What’s a powered paraglider?

For those who don’t know a powered paraglider from

a hang glider from a parasail, a powered paraglider con-

sists of two parts: an inflatable, oblong wing made of

nylon and a two-cycle motor harnessed to the pilot’s

back.

Whereas nonpowered paragliders require pilots to

launch from a height, powered paragliders can take off

from any open space. To get airborne, the pilot straps

the motor to his or her back and runs into the wind,

pulling the wing along by the cables on its leading edge

until the wing rises up, its cells inflate with air and the

pilot is lifted off his feet.

“Launching is the hardest part of flying a powered

paraglider,” said Jackson, “because to launch, you’ve got

to be centered under the wing. If the wing moves on

you, you’ve got to be able to see that and move under-

neath it while you’re underway. Being centered with the

wing, running into the wind, making sure the wing is

loaded are critical factors in a successful launch.”

The pilot has to do that while running as fast as pos-

sible with a heavy motor mounted on his or her back.

Jackson’s paramotor weighs 51 pounds with the fuel

tank empty. Plus, the pilot must manage both brake

lines and throttle in the left hand and brake lines in the

right hand.

When he presses the throttle, Jackson said the motor

begins to push him forward and he finds himself run-

ning “faster than you ever dreamed you would.”

Once in a while Jackson finds himself skipping steps,

“running way beyond what I could do normally, be-

cause the motor’s pushing me faster than my foot

speed.”

“That’s when you have to just trust it and just stay

full throttle and lean back and keep running as long as

you can,” Jackson said.

Once up in the air, Jackson unfolds a small seat that

drops down from behind him and allows him to sit

comfortably while flying.

Although taking off is the most hazardous and diffi-

cult part of flying a powered paraglider, it is also one of

the things that keeps Jackson coming back for more.

“It’s pure exhilaration when I’m launching.

That’s

probably the most intense feeling, leaving the earth on

C

ELEBRATING

J

EFFERSON

C

OUNTY

17

“It’s pure exhilaration when I’m launching.”