News

We need your help to preserve Utah’s scenic backcountry airstrips. Due to the 2017 lawsuit settlement with an environmental group, the BLM is obligated to revise 13 Travel Management Plans (TMPs) in Utah. Each requires public comment periods. RAF Utah Liaison Wendy Lessig says, “Please hang in there and keep sending your comments. Every voice counts.”  Draft San Rafael Swell TMP…

“Thanks to a group of thirteen volunteers, we were able to have a successful RAF work party,” Brian Thomas, RAF Connecticut Liaison reported of the June 23 gathering at the Waterbury Airport, N41. He reports that the airport owners are very appreciative of the collective efforts from the local pilot community to keep Waterbury looking…

RAF Oregon Liaison Bill Ables reports that in May, thirty volunteers completed another successful work party on five airstrips within Hells Canyon, North America’s deepest river gorge. “This has been a long-standing Idaho Aviation Association work party, and they provide food and drinks for the volunteers,” Ables said. “Nineteen aircraft arrived at Dug Bar at…

RAF Montana Liaison Scott Newpower reports that in spite of occasional rain, nine volunteers from the RAF and Montana Pilots Association flew in from as far away as Washington State, Columbus, Billings and Kremlin, Montana on Saturday, June 15 to work on Meadow Creek USFS airstrip. The turf 2,800-ft airstrip lies along the South Fork…

We have released the improved Airfield Guide for your free use just in time to plan some fun stops on your way to Oshkosh! Along with updated software and features, users will find a completely new, cleaner look and feel. Among the new features is the ability to leave comments with photos and videos on airfields. We encourage users…

Have you ever read our Code of Conduct? The RAF offers recommendations to advance flight safety, professionalism, consideration, and courtesy toward the people and wildlife who share the recreational environment. This is a great tool to use out in the backcountry, and we encourage all RAF supporters to read and follow the RAF’s Code of…

Chicken Strip in Death Valley National Park’s remote Saline Valley is a gravel airstrip within a short hike of the Saline hot springs grouping. RAF California Liaison Katerina Barilov was concerned that the closest weather currently available comes from Tonopah, NV, 82 nm away. In the interest of providing pilots accurate information to make better-informed…

We’d like to direct you to Levi Armichardy’s beautifully written essay in this issue of Idaho Magazine. He writes of joining his dad on a horseback ride trailing pack mules 26 miles into Moose Creek Forest Service Ranger Station in the middle of Idaho’s Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness. There’s a historic turf airstrip there, too, and if you’ve been there,…

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 month’s guest editorial is by Joyce Woods, an RAF friend and volunteer who also facilitates the NM Airstrip Network. “Value is Created with Partners” was my new manufacturing boss’s mantra in the…