Posts by Lisa Ellington

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…

Saturday August 17th was a perfect day to mow a little grass, trim a few weeds, tighten some fence wire, cut some firewood and clean the outhouse. So, that is just what a group of volunteers did this past weekend at Russian Flat, MT (M42) in central MT. The group, led by Pete Smith of the Central (Lewistown) Hangar…

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…

Maybe it was the promise of Ande LaRoche’s barbecued brats and dutch-oven vegetables, but whatever it was brought out a crew of pilots and friends this weekend to get Ryan Field (2MT1) into shape for another season of flying. Director Chuck Jarecki outlined and prioritized the tasks, and folks brought their complementary skills. Volunteers began showing up Friday, and began…

Recreational Aviation Foundation Arkansas State Liaison Dave Myrick reports that after sending a copy of the RAF newsletter and website links to another Arkansas pilot, he received some exciting news. “The phone call made my day,” Myrick said. “It was RAF member David Ellison of Bradford. He knew of our success with the Arkansas Recreational Use Statutes (RUS) amendment…

The airstrip at Grand Gulch, AZ, near the north rim of the Grand Canyon was the scene of a work party Mar. 16 headed up by Recreational Aviation Foundation southern Utah Liaison Wayne Loeber. Thanks to last year’s efforts by the RAF to commit to a maintenance agreement with the BLM and National Park Service, access…

The 89th General Assembly of Arkansas passed House Bill 1020 on February 7, essentially protecting private airstrip owners throughout Arkansas from litigation from non-commercial aviation activity on their land.  The bill added “aviation” to the other recreational activities listed in the state’s existing Recreational Use Statute. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Joe Jett (D) of  Clay County…

The New Mexico Pilot Association held its third annual Negrito Fly-In Oct. 5-7, 2012.  This year’s event marked the first year that NMP partnered with the Arizona Pilots Association to host the event.  The Negrito Airstrip (0NM7) is situated at 8,100 feet in southwestern New Mexico’s remote and beautiful Gila National Forest. Most mornings we were serenaded by bugling elk and…

Northeastern Washington at Sullivan Lake was the setting for a work party/fly-in this past weekend.  Over 30 airplanes arrived, some by floats on the pristine lake and others landed on the turf 1765’ airstrip.  (Metaline Falls, 09S.)  The airstrip was already in great shape, but the recurring gopher holes needed filling in, and weeds needed whacking, and we left…

RAF President John McKenna attended a planning meeting regarding a potentially new airstrip in an area of Minnesota known as the North West Angle, or as the locals refer to it as “The Angle.” The meeting, organized by James Hanson of Albert, Lea, Minnesota, was held Monday August 6th  in Baudette, Minnesota, which is the county seat…