News

Thanks to a group of Montana pilots and RAF volunteers, you can fly into about half a million acres that is much as it was when Lewis and Clark first described it on their trip through Montana in 1805. From Ft. Benton, MT, to St. Louis, MO, the “Missouri Breaks” are the last significant chunk of ground whose face hasn’t…

On April 4, the RAF met virtually with U.S. Forest Service staff representing seven of the USFS’s nine Regions, and Washington, D.C. The meeting was facilitated by Scott Haas, Acting Dispersed Recreation Program Manager, and regularly District Ranger at Clear Creek, Colorado.  The USFS representatives outlined the airstrip projects and challenges in their regions. A…

Creighton Island owner Frank Williams welcomed RAF volunteers the weekend of February 17-19 to cut what RAF Florida Liaison Bobby Capozzi called “an untold number of trees” encroaching along the runway. In addition to initial efforts to widen the runway, the plan is to run millable timber through the vintage sawmill that has been reassembled…

“After FAA approval and no objections from Forest Service Fire and Aviation, the District Ranger approved Sacaton Landing Strip for recreational access this morning,” RAF New Mexico Liaison Ron Keller reported on January 9, and his dream that Sacaton reopen by New Years was fully realized. This airstrip had lain unusable for three decades. “At least a…

A September 2022 announcement by the FAA stirred up social media chatter and piqued AOPA and RAF attention over the possible removal of a sector of private airfields from charts. On chart legends, the open magenta circle “R” was labeled Non-public use having emergency or landmark value. The FAA bulletin stated that “only private airports…

Since the RAF signed an MOU with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, RAF Texas Liaison Tres Clinton reports they have had numerous in-person and online meetings, and the department supports airstrips on Parklands. So far, work has been completed at Del Norte airstrip, in the Devils River State Natural Area. “The main focus now…