Read more: Local, Sports, Power Paragliding, Jetpack, Fan, Parachute, Glider
BOONE COUNTY, MO. -- If you look up into the summer evening sky, you might see a Columbia Police officer having fun with his new hobby.
Columbia Deputy Police Chief Tom Dresner enjoys the sport of Power Paragliding.
Dresner is the only person in the city of 100,000 people to fly through the skies using a Power Paraglider, or PPG for short. Just like Superman, Dresner leaps into the air and its up, up and away.
“Whenever I fly close to town, I stop traffic," Dresner said. "If I just stopped and landed and answered questions, I think that we would have some more folks here in Columbia doing it because it’s that cool.”
With more than 40 hours in the air, Dresner said his personal flying machine is safe. It’s basically a gasoline-powered fan blowing into a parachute that lifts you off the ground.
“When you are flying under an open parachute at all times, and even with a second shoot, I weighed the risks and even though it is aviation, it’s very, very safe as long as you don’t push your limits and capability,” Dresner said.
Dresner’s neighbors get a thrill when they see his bird-like maneuvers in the evening sky.
“We like it," Dresner’s neighbor Jill Hurt said. "It’s kind of boring and quiet out here, so we’ll take any kind of excitement that we can get. We sit out on the back porch and watch him fly around. I always thought that it would be kind of fun to do myself.”
“It’s neat," Dresner’s neighbor Doug Hurt said. "Our son really loves it. We get to see him every evening. It’s something that is kind of fun to watch.”
When Dresner was a little boy he always dreamed of flying in a jetpack. Today, he’s satisfied with flying in what he calls his flying lawn chair. Dresner’s friend Darryl Smith watches from the ground and makes sure Dresner’s lawn chair in the sky stays safe.
“He’s got a sense of adventure, but he’s also very safe at what he does," Smith said. "He’s good at what he does. I’m not surprised at all that would undertake this as a sport.”
Dresner hopes more people in Columbia get Power Paragliders so he can start a Power Paraglider Club. The equipment for this sport costs about $10,000. A professional instructor in Phoenix taught Dresner how to use his glider.
“It’s just flying as close to a bird as you really can with safety parameters that are safe," Dresner said. "I’m the last person in the world with small kids and a family to want to be a smoking hole in the ground.”
Power Paragliding has some minimum FAA requirements including no flights over congested areas or open-air sporting events.
