Archive for July 2013

Steve “sj” Johnson came to aviation from an unusual direction. Fear of flying on commercial airliners led him to confront the fear and start taking flying lessons in 1997. A rocky start – including an accident as a low-time pilot – fueled his determination to learn all he could about flying. Now a 4500+ hour pilot,…

Mark Novak recently retired from a 35-year career with the US Forest Service throughout the west as a Forest Ecologist and Forest Silviculturist. He also worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He graduated with a forestry science degree from the Univ. of Idaho in 1976 and completed advanced silviculture training at the Univ. of…

The air cleared by recent rains in time for another annual RAF Donor-appreciation Fly-In at Ryan Field (2MT1). 28 aircraft flew in, joining folks who’d driven there to enjoy perfect summer weather at the strip near West Glacier, Montana. It was a family affair, and children had no problem finding places to explore, bugs to catch,…

The Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) is pleased to announce today’s decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that largely upholds the backcountry airstrip designations on Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. The RAF and Montana Pilots’ Association mobilized early on in the Bureau of Land Management planning process to retain the airstrips. “This is…