Featured Supporters

There are all kinds of ways for volunteers to help the RAF mission, and this month we feature pilots Lindsay and Paul Tarkleson of Bozeman, MT, who set aside whatever they may be doing to model RAF logo wear in front of their photogenic Cessna 170 for the RAF Outfitter, the RAF's online gear store. If it means taking a break from her busy dental office, or finding help tending their four-year old and three-month-old baby, that’s what she and Paul do. Lindsay is a native of Bozeman. Her father, RAF Supporter Jim Booth, flies a Cessna 180 and years ago inspired Lindsay to get her pilot's license, which she did in 2015 in a Citabria named “Daisy.” Not long after, she decided to buy a Cessna 170, which she and Paul fly out of Bozeman Yellowstone Field today. Lindsay earned her seaplane rating and says, “I’ve never flown a nose wheel airplane unless you count the amphibious floats.” Paul explains, “We were flying Jim’s Cessna 180 back to Montana from Maine, and it was clear two pilots would be better than one, so I decided to get my license, too.” He learned in the C170 in Bozeman, and when he showed up for his flight test, he told the FAA examiner that he needed to get the test going, since he borrowed the taildragger from his wife, “and needed to get it back before my wife discovers it’s gone.” Paul, a graduate of the Maine Maritime Academy, spent years sailing all over the world for the Merchant Marine. He was at home on the seas, but gave up the ocean life for aviation, a natural switch that fulfilled that passion. “It’s as similar as it can be to the ocean, but the exact opposite,” he says. With two young daughters and a busy family business, Paul is very happy not to be away seven months of the year. Paul serves as Lindsay’s lab technician, and his schedule is such that they can prioritize the needs of the kids, blessed with occasional help from Lindsay’s parents, who live nearby. Bozeman is a great place to raise a family, the Tarklesons feel. “The schools are great, and our airport is only thirty minutes away,” Paul adds. Lindsay and Paul credit their friend and RAF photographer Jake Peterson for their introduction to the RAF. The Tarklesons manage to fly often, mainly throughout the West, including a flight to Oregon to pick up their puppy, who now flies with them to go bird hunting. “We fly into airstrips in Montana and Idaho that the RAF supports and helps maintain; so for that, we are forever grateful,” Lindsay says. Submitted March 3, 2025

Recreational pilots have a very special place to visit thanks to some dedicated Michigan pilots including Don Seelye. These folks understood the recreational value of North Fox Island in Lake Michigan, just 27 nm from Charlevoix. “We used to fly out there regularly with our family and friends and do some maintenance,” Don says. “It was privately owned, and our pay was the use of the island. We were able to enjoy the Tom Sawyer thing,” he says. Don was raised near Flint, MI. His father was an automotive engineer. Don left college and the restraint of a desk, preferring the outdoors and doing his own engineering, which led to a successful career manufacturing electronic controls for environmental research. His clients included JPL and Generac. His company patented a special controller. “We were told it was the first controller to survive the Antarctic winter.” Don never visited the frozen continent, preferring to explore Lake Michigan for shipwrecks. He bought a Cessna 120 and learned to fly. He’d fly over the lake, spotting telltale indications of something salvageable beneath the surface for his partner, who made furniture from legally salvaged wood. They would take their tugboat over the site and dive to the wreck. The best find, Don explains, was a three-masted schooner that had sunk over a hundred years before. It yielded beautifully preserved white oak. For vacations, Don would fly with his wife Carol and three small kids in the two-seat Cessna. “Once we flew to Mackinac Island. I signed in as ‘C-120 with five onboard’. I kinda expected an official phone call, but it never came,” he mused. Now, Don and his wife love flying the Lake Amphibian they bought in 1971. It has taken them over a good chunk of North America, from Key West to near Hudson Bay, he says, “We like to find remote lakes and camp. We find a somewhat sandy shoreline to beach the plane; maybe catch a big walleye.” In 2009, Don saw an RAF story in a flying magazine and called John McKenna, asking to get involved. “The McKennas came to Michigan and met us that July, and we met with Michigan Aeronautics. More RAF volunteers came in and joined us for local meetings with the DNR in Lansing. We finally pushed and pushed and got North Fox open,” he says.

Competitive Nordic ski racing is, “Probably the hardest aerobic sport you can do,” says Shayla Swanson, former Canadian national team member. Shayla likens her passion for demanding outdoor mountain sports to starting and managing her successful Bozeman-based business, Sauce. “My tolerance for hard things is abnormally high,” she admits with a laugh. The RAF proudly selected Sauce as one of its local vendors, and Sauce headwear “flies” out of the RAF Outfitter store. The RAF was impressed with Sauce’s commitment to cottage industry service and versatile production capacity. Everything happens under one roof at their Bozeman, Montana location – from design, through manufacture, to packaging. “We choose to keep things local and domestic,” Shayla says. Now, Sauce products sell across North America and are worn by all ages, countless teams, and all kinds of sports clubs. “We are proud of the quality of everything that goes out of our door,” Shayla says in her company video. Shayla was raised among the Canadian Rockies in Canmore, Alberta, and from a very young age engaged in adventure and endurance sports. When she wasn’t outdoors, she was at her sewing machine practicing her “Middle School nerdy hobby” of making things out of fabric. She started making headwear for her ski team, then realized there was a market for warm hats that are so comfortable that people forget they’re wearing them. She moved to Bozeman to finish her education in Exercise Science from Montana State University, and explains that a coach with a good reputation, plus the chance to live among the Bridger and Gallatin Ranges, was enough draw to resettle in the US. Her enterprise became her professional focus, and she started with a few hat designs cut and sewn from bolts of pre-printed fabric, but she and her creative crew decided to design their own imagery. They invested in very specialized imprinting equipment to infuse their sprightly colors on plain fabric in a process called dye sublimation, committing themselves to working out all the new technology. “It was a tremendous leap in flexibility, quality, and waste reduction,” Shayla points out, adding, “Our machinery is one of a kind. We’re on our own if something goes wrong. The closest place for service is Seattle.” For the past dozen years, Sauce has offered its Sauce For a Cause program. Anyone is invited to submit design ideas, and the public votes for their favorite. Sauce produces the winning hat as a limited edition item and donates a portion of those sales to the design winner’s charity of choice. The contest has benefited Huntington’s disease research, The Cure Starts Now cancer research, Erin’s Hope Project, animal shelters, local schools, and the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness just to name a few. And why the quirky name, Sauce? “Our products add zest to your wardrobe, just like sauce adds zest to a dish you eat,” Shayla says. “Sauce is the perfect name for our spicy, colorful, and tasteful activewear.” See a short video on the Sauce story here . The RAF Outfitter offers Sauce items in adult and youth sizes. Color choices are Molten, Autumn Harvest, Dark Coral; or for warmer protection from northern winters, select fleece-lined Snowy Night or Grey Embers. See the Sauce selections in the RAF Outfitter here . By Carmine Mowbray Submitted January 19, 2026

At age 21, Mike Kuefler started tinkering with lightning protection, and his interest developed into a satisfying 40-year career based in St. Ignatius, Montana. From the Pacific Northwest to Florida, Kuefler Lightning Protection designs and installs grounding systems to protect against lightning strikes in hospitals, schools, FAA ATC towers, military munitions and missile magazines, USFS fire lookout towers, homes, agricultural, and commercial facilities. And one could say that opportunity struck like lightning in 2003 when Mike and his wife Julie were delivering materials near West Glacier, Montana. They heard about an airfield a few miles up Ryan Road, so they drove in and were welcomed in warm Montana style by Ben and Butchie Ryan, igniting a friendship. Julie began bringing homemade foods whenever they were in the area, and Veteran Army pilot Ben shared WWII flying stories with Mike.

Chris Nugent, Arizona Pilots Association President, calls himself a “lifelong aviation geek” and has the CV to show it. He’d flown a J-3 in high school, then laid aside his flight aspirations for family and his demanding career. His aviation experience spans from simple stick and rudder, a glider rating, to building parts for Mars Rovers and Apollo launch vehicles during a 40-year career in aerospace engineering, including two decades at the Naval Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland. He retired after serving as chief engineer for Pacific Scientific in Phoenix, building inertial reels, restraint harnesses, and explosive devices for ejection seats. His wife then encouraged his own aviation journey with a gift of five flight training hours. When Chris entered the flight school, he spotted a Carbon Cub, and said to his instructor, “Let’s fly that instead of the Cherokee!” That preference led him to his embrace of everything the RAF does to preserve places a Cub might fly. Chris’s wife supported his decision to buy a Carbon Cub, and he never looked back with longing for anything else. “Experimental is the way to go,” he says, adding, “I don’t need permission to perform maintenance.” He also got his glider rating, since Arizona is the ideal place for training. Now his grandson is pursuing that rating, “A good foundation for tailwheel flying,” Chris added. Engaging with the Arizona Pilots Association and the RAF deepens his aviation interests, and he pitches in on the collaborative work parties. “We just had a maintenance weekend at Grapevine. It was really productive,” he said. Thanks to RAF Arizona Liaison Mark Spencer and Tommy Thomason, who built a great working relationship with the US Forest Service, the District Ranger approves these volunteers to maintain the strips, saying, “Let us know if you need anything.” Chris was pleased with the RAF's work to organize a necessary architectural study for the bunkhouse at Double Circle Ranch, another USFS strip. Following the study, work will be planned to preserve the structure for pilots’ overnight use. Chris finds joy in more than flying and working together. He is serving as APA President, and is especially proud that since its founding in 1978, the membership has funded significant scholarships for dozens of young people interested in flight and aviation maintenance. Just this year, members contributed enough for ten $3,000 awards. APA also has a dedicated backcountry committee that works hard statewide to preserve its recreational strips."We are grateful for our relationship with the RAF, which is awesome,” he says. In October, Chris attended an RAF educational conference in Silver City, New Mexico, and said, “I was impressed with the RAF's leadership and their commitment to the mission. It’s a good model to follow.” “I’d rather spend more time on scholarships and backcountry stuff,” he says, but he is also working hard to push back on proposed landing fees at Falcon Field, where he keeps his Carbon Cub and the J-3 he flew in high school. He also joined the MOSAIC initiative to broaden Sport Pilot privileges and expand Light Sport Aircraft size, weight, and speed specs. If you see Chris at one of his many aviation engagements, be sure to thank him for his devotion and advocacy to further both the RAF and APA missions. By Carmine Mowbray  Submitted December 15, 2025

The RAF often features aviation enthusiasts old enough to have a little graying around the temples. This month, we are featuring 17-year-old twins Joshua and Caleb Turner, sons of RAF Pennsylvania Liaison Andy Turner. The boys have been flying since toddler age, buckled in the backseat of the family C172, among a week’s worth of camp gear and diapers — there are no diaper stores in Idaho’s and Montana’s backcountry. But you won’t see those cross-country hours in the boys’ logbooks. Instead, you’ll see pages filled with the glider hours each has accumulated since age 14. Caleb says topping his list of “bests” is the feeling of “ flying solo for the first time in a glider.” Now the boys are well on their way to their PPL, and have logged dual instruction beside their Dad, a CFI, in the RV-10 that Andy built. Andy and Sharon Turner were headed into Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness when they were first acquainted with the RAF. Since then, Andy and the boys have helped at RAF work parties every chance they had. A few years ago, they’d journeyed back to Montana and were camped at Meadow Creek. When Andy gave the young boys a choice between fishing the South Fork, hiking, or joining Saturday’s work party at Ryan Field, it was unanimous — both enthusiastically voted for the work. The 14-year-olds spent the day splitting and stacking firewood, painting, mowing grass, and clearing brush, then they enjoyed the fellowship around a potluck meal. They brought their camp chairs around the fire and were welcomed in to listen in on flying yarns under the stars. Josh says, “The RAF has given me an appreciation for flying and wild places. We use some of the airstrips to access the backcountry. Without the RAF helping keep strips open and maintained, I may not have had some of these backcountry experiences.” Caleb agrees, saying, “The RAF has definitely had a positive influence on me and my family. If not for the RAF, we wouldn’t have such wide access and nice facilities at all of these backcountry airstrips.” Aviation is high on the boys’ list of life goals, and Dad says both Josh and Caleb are good mechanics. Both have participated in regional motorcycle trail races. “There is a certain symmetry in their motorcycle avocation, but Caleb is a consistent high finisher, and he has won a couple of these races. Joshua won All-Conference cross-country honors and is a two-time high school state qualifier. So, they each have their area of excellence,” Andy added. Caleb will attend Penn College of Technology for a degree in aviation maintenance, pursuing that as a career. “Earning a commercial pilot license later on could open up a lot of opportunities,” he added. Josh plans to graduate from college with a degree in fisheries and wildlife science. He’s considering future instrument and commercial licenses. “I don’t know where I see myself, but I would like to continue traveling the country by air if I can,” he says. These young men, as they approach college and their individual goals, have set a high bar for what we used to call “good citizenship” – a willingness to contribute time and energy for something bigger than themselves. Here’s how Josh puts it, “Through the various work parties I have been a part of, I have gained an appreciation for the people who put in more work than I do. Those work parties gave me an opportunity to give my time to help others. Because of that, I have participated in and helped organize community service projects.” “The boys are very different, but they share aviation, and a large part of that is thanks to the RAF. For that, I’m very grateful,” Andy said.  As a postscript to this feature, Andy just added that on November 8, Josh soloed in the RV-10. Congratulations, Josh!

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