DANVILLE, Va. (WDBJ) – Family and friends are grieving over the loss of the pilot who died in a helicopter crash in Pittsylvania County Saturday.
Paul Jackson was flying from his home in Chase City, Virginia to Danville to take a friend with cancer on a helicopter ride. Paul’s son, Christopher Jackson, says that was nothing new for Paul.
He’d been flying for 20 years and was the President of the Virginia Helicopter Association.
“He was such a good pilot, so good,” said Christopher Jackson, Paul Jackson’s son. “That’s why I just don’t understand.”
It was shortly after he dropped his friend and his friend’s daughter off that he crashed in the Mount Cross area.
He was heading to his good friend Steven Tickle’s restaurant outside Danville, texting just minutes prior that he was on the way.
“He told me that he had to land at a gas station because of fog and I told him it looked fine over here,” said Steven Tickle, owner of Tickle’s Table. “We don’t know what happened.”
But Paul’s memory and legacy lives through his family and friends, who say even though he was always flying high, he stayed humble and kind.
“The world just became a lot less of a good place when he left. He always laughed and smiled and had fantastic sense of humor,” added Jackson.
“Paul, with or without a helicopter, was a guy that carried a smile into the room. By the time he left the room, you were wishing he wasn’t gone. He brought a smile with him and everyone else before he left,” explained Tickle.
Christopher says his dad taught his son Conner how to fly at 14 years old. He also flew in supplies to help people in North Carolina after the devastation from Hurricane Helene.
“He just touched so many lives and the sad part is, I mourn. My family mourns. But I feel sorry for the rest of the people because they just don’t know what they lost,” said Jackson.
While they’re still waiting for answers as to what may have caused the wreck, Christopher says he’s at peace knowing his dad was doing what he loved.
“I hope that people will take this going forward that he would not want anyone to be sad. It would be a celebration of life is the only way for it to be looked at. So, I’m just thankful he’s my dad,” said Jackson.
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