Narrative:

Aircraft X was VFR on his own navigation. South of geg he told me he did not know the parachute area was active. This was confusing to me. There is currently a NOTAM for pje 36 miles south of geg near 33S. At the time he mentioned this that area was at his 11 o'clock and approximately 25 miles. I asked him if he could see parajumpers; and he said he could at about 6;500 feet MSL. I asked the pilot how far away the jumpers were; and got no response. I attempted numerous times to reestablish contact with the pilot; including main and standby transmitters; guard frequency; and also having another aircraft try to relay a message.I had initiated an automated handoff to mwh approach; which was completed. I coordinated verbally to advise that aircraft X was radar contact lost and also NORDO. About 10 or 15 minutes after I told mwh approach that aircraft X was NORDO; they called back to say that he contacted them finally. By this time I had dismissed the report as being in the known pje area.I had no other reports of parachutes while working. When I gave the position to my relief (training team) I advised them about the report; but also told them that my assumption was that he saw jumpers in the NOTAM area. After my break I learned that multiple aircraft were reporting numerous parachutes in a similar area. They were powered parachute gliders. The controller in charge had tracked down some information about a race of powered parachutes approximately 30 miles southeast of geg. There were 120 of the powered parachutes; operating from between 12;000 feet MSL to the ground; which is the upper limit of our airspace. Mwh was informed of the race; but we were not.upon learning this; I realized that there were some occasional primary returns south of geg; but they would show up for typically a very short time and at the time did not appear to be connected. I believe I fell victim to some expectation bias in this situation. In having known parachute activity with a tfr area displayed on my map; it was easy to assume that this is what the pilot was describing to me. Also; if the pilot had been able to answer my questions at the time; this could have been discovered sooner; and we as a facility may have been able to provide a safer environment to some of the aircraft receiving services.I am certain if there had been a NOTAM issued; we would have been able to help aircraft receiving services to avoid the area somehow; through coordination with ZSE at a minimum. The controller in charge contacted the guy in charge of the race (getting information from mwh about it); and he told the controller in charge that he tried to file something with FSS; but they told him it was too big an area and they couldn't do it. I'm not sure if that is legitimate; but it seems like a horrible reason to me.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GEG TRACON Controller reported being unaware that an organization was conducting a powered parachute event in their airspace.

Narrative: Aircraft X was VFR on his own navigation. South of GEG he told me he did not know the parachute area was active. This was confusing to me. There is currently a NOTAM for PJE 36 miles south of GEG near 33S. At the time he mentioned this that area was at his 11 o'clock and approximately 25 miles. I asked him if he could see parajumpers; and he said he could at about 6;500 feet MSL. I asked the pilot how far away the jumpers were; and got no response. I attempted numerous times to reestablish contact with the pilot; including main and standby transmitters; guard frequency; and also having another aircraft try to relay a message.I had initiated an automated handoff to MWH approach; which was completed. I coordinated verbally to advise that Aircraft X was radar contact lost and also NORDO. About 10 or 15 minutes after I told MWH approach that Aircraft X was NORDO; they called back to say that he contacted them finally. By this time I had dismissed the report as being in the known PJE area.I had no other reports of parachutes while working. When I gave the position to my relief (training team) I advised them about the report; but also told them that my assumption was that he saw jumpers in the NOTAM area. After my break I learned that multiple aircraft were reporting numerous parachutes in a similar area. They were powered parachute gliders. The Controller In charge had tracked down some information about a race of powered parachutes approximately 30 miles southeast of GEG. There were 120 of the powered parachutes; operating from between 12;000 feet MSL to the ground; which is the upper limit of our airspace. MWH was informed of the race; but we were not.Upon learning this; I realized that there were some occasional primary returns south of GEG; but they would show up for typically a very short time and at the time did not appear to be connected. I believe I fell victim to some expectation bias in this situation. In having known parachute activity with a TFR area displayed on my map; it was easy to assume that this is what the pilot was describing to me. Also; if the pilot had been able to answer my questions at the time; this could have been discovered sooner; and we as a facility may have been able to provide a safer environment to some of the aircraft receiving services.I am certain if there had been a NOTAM issued; we would have been able to help aircraft receiving services to avoid the area somehow; through coordination with ZSE at a minimum. The Controller in Charge contacted the guy in charge of the race (getting information from MWH about it); and he told the Controller in Charge that he tried to file something with FSS; but they told him it was too big an area and they couldn't do it. I'm not sure if that is legitimate; but it seems like a horrible reason to me.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.