Archive for 2014
RAF Georgia Liaison Eric Davis responded to a recent plea to help airlift close to 1,000 endangered turtles from New England beaches to facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. What better way to help these slow-moving creatures get to rehab centers quickly than by Bonanza? Some GA pilots donate their services transporting dogs from overcrowded shelters to…
Well, maybe not exactly international, but with 25 aircraft, including a brand spanking new Cessna Caravan and 50 plus people, anyone would have wondered what was going on at the USFS Pleasant Valley (24AZ) airstrip this weekend. When the USFS reached out to the aviation community to ask for volunteers we thought eight to ten volunteers showing up…
The Mexican Mountain back country air strip over the years has grown in with weeds and debris. The Back Country Pilots Association with the help and support of the Recreational Aviation Foundation started a project to make repairs to the strip. Steve Durtschi, President of the Back County Pilots Association and RAF Utah state liaison…
We accomplished everything we’d planned and more this weekend at the old Double Circle Ranch and airstrip. (Eagle Creek.) Nine aircraft and about twenty-two folks including personnel from the US Forest Service came to support the work. Local ranchers Jean and Erik Schwennesen, Jacob Cannon, ranch hand from the old 4-Drag Ranch and Dave Krejci, showed…
Beautiful Sullivan Lake in the northeast corner of Washington State (09S) was the site of another perfect weekend fly-in Aug. 15-16. Affectionately dubbed the “Gopher Gaggle” in years past by the late Bob Kay, it’s the annual work weekend, coordinated by the RAF and Washington State Dep’t of Transportation WSDOT. Folks flew in to help…
Sacramento, Calif. —Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law Senate Bill 1072, which amends the California Recreational Use Statute (RUS) to include recreational aviation. Since the RUS now protects landowners from liability arising from recreational use of their property, airstrip owners will likely be more receptive to transient pilots. California becomes the 24th state to include such…
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At about this time, every year, we have this conversation at the RAF about what our year end letter (code for asking for your financial support) should say to you, and about the RAF and the accomplishments of the past year.
Our many RAF supporters have such vast and varied experience, and we’re capturing some of their words of wisdom to share with you. This guest editorial is by Stef Goza, a pilot and an RAF Alaska liaison.
Bill credits aviation for much of his success in business and the ability to serve his companies and family. What began in a Champ, and a Tri-Pacer owned by five people, turned into what Bill calls, “a key business tool” in which he accumulated 9,000 hours – in a Cheyenne, a Pilatus, and a TBM, where ninety-five percent of his flying was for business. “My retirement enabled me to recall ‘Why I Learned to Fly’, a slogan from an old RAF video.” Bill’s son, Patrick, purchased the C185 they now share. “While attending a business function, some associates arrived in corporate jets. As they joined up on the tarmac, the jet pilots gathered around Patrick’s 185, and one of the passengers asked, ‘What’s special about this?’ No explanation needed for this RAF audience,” Bill says. “My involvement in the RAF is, in a partial way, repaying the rewards aviation has endowed me with. Having been involved in many worthwhile nonprofits, this is one where financial support is only part of the picture. Physically participating in great projects that have a lasting effect, with good people, returns a great personal benefit,” he says. “My only regret is that I wasn’t there at the start.” Bill and his wife Jane are privileged to be able to split time between their long-time home in eastern Nebraska and Scottsdale, Arizona. While still serving on several boards, he enjoys golf “about every third shot,” biking, cars, and reading, but always looks forward to the time he can be involved in the RAF. “It’s flying with a purpose,” he adds. Bill can be reached at bdugan@theraf.org
AR Ambassador
A Christmas gift of flight lessons from his parents started Scott Anttila’s aviation journey in 1985. “I learned at Johnson Field, a small grass strip tucked into the woods in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and that early exposure to simple backcountry flying stuck with me,” Scott says. Growing up in the U.P., he spent a lot of time outdoors and found that flying was another way to get to the places he liked to explore—especially the ones most people never saw. As he earned more ratings and eventually moved to the Detroit area for work, Scott realized he needed a way to stay connected to northern Michigan. He bought an airplane and used it to get back to the smaller airstrips and lake country he enjoyed. Along the way, he also flew gliders out of Frankfort, soaring along the Sleeping Bear Dunes and towing sailplanes over the Great Lakes. “Those flights gave me a different appreciation for the landscape and made me even more interested in the small, out-of-the-way airports scattered around the state,” he says. Visiting those kinds of places, Scott first came across the Recreational Aviation Foundation. He started using RAF-supported airstrips both inside and outside Michigan. “I noticed how well-kept they were and how much access they opened up,” he says, adding, ”Over the years, I’ve watched a number of grass strips close, which made the RAF’s mission feel especially important to me. Maintaining these airstrips keeps aviation connected to the outdoors and makes it possible for more people to reach the quiet, remote areas that inspired me to fly in the first place.” Scott joins the other two RAF Michigan Liaisons, General Grant and Tanmoy Ganguly. He can be reached at santtila@theraf.org . Submitted December 11, 2025.
