Posts by Carmine Mowbray

The RAF is pleased to announce the signing of a new five-year Cost Share Agreement with the US Forest Service. Similar to the existing agreement on the Gila National Forest, this contract covers the Southwestern Region, primarily in Arizona and New Mexico. Initial focus will be on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, including Arizona’s Double Circle…

A lot of pilots are discovering the challenges and joys of accessing the backcountry. To emphasize safety, we’re eager to share some excellent Backcountry Safety Coalition resources with you, produced and curated by AOPA’s Air Safety Institute.  You can select from relevant webinars and instructive videos produced by AOPA’s ASI. More are added all the time, so…

As year-end nears, like many people, you may be considering your charitable contributions. If you wish to include the RAF, we are standing by to help. You can even specify an RAF project if you wish. The RAF is fortunate to have a deep bench of professional financial planning talent with several planned giving ideas…

Volunteers gathered at California’s Lone Pine Death Valley Airport, O26 September 14-15 to paint the airport’s terminal building. RAF California Liaison Katerina Barilov and RAF Nevada Ambassador Mike Bradford joined folks from Friends of Lone Pine Airport (FLPA), the non-profit group of local volunteers who recognize the airport’s historic past, and its importance to the community. In…

Another Spanish moss-draped oak-lined Georgia island airfield is being reclaimed from its fast-growing subtropical environment. Owners of Patterson Island airfield, G21 have already invested a huge effort reclaiming this overgrown 2,000-foot long runway that hadn’t been used in over a decade, “and have made it look like a fairway,” RAF Georgia Liaison Kevin Barry reports.…

RAF Utah Liaison Wendy Lessig has been heavily involved in following and providing updates on Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) planning by the BLM. She submitted substantive comments on behalf of the RAF, and reports that the BLM released its final Resource Management Plan on August 30. The Boulder/New Home Bench airstrip will remain open…

RAF Supporter Mike Kuefler reports that the new Pavilion at the St. Ignatius Airport is ready for use. Funded in great part by an RAF grant secured by RAF Montana Liaison Scott Newpower, the total cost of the 16 x 24-ft structure, including its central fire ring was $12,764. “It’s a flagship model timber frame…

When Nicolas Chabbert, CEO of Daher-Kodiak Aircraft, learned that a 350-pound 10-gauge steel bear box needed to be delivered to Montana’s Schafer Meadows, he enthusiastically offered to fly the mission in a Kodiak. His avid support stemmed from Daher Kodiak’s cordial relationship with the RAF, kindled in 2022. RAF Director and General Aviation Manufacturers Association…

The RAF’s annual online meeting with AOPA took place September 17 and key volunteers were briefed on each region’s issues, and AOPA’s advocacy. Mike Ginter, former AOPA VP of Airports and Advocacy emceed. Ginter has recently taken on the position of Senior VP of the Air Safety Institute.   Ginter led the discussion by announcing…

Located in the Ochoco National Forest in Central Oregon, the Rager Ranger Station has a 2,800-ft gravel airstrip and scenic camping area. When the ranger station’s administrative functions were relocated to Prineville, OR in 2013, the airstrip, constructed in the 1930s, had become hazardous due to encroaching brush, surface damage caused by wildlife and livestock, and the…