News

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…

Redbird co-founder Charlie Gregoire was a featured speaker at the RAF’s biennial Education Conference May 16-19 in Bozeman, MT. His collaborator Michael Leek of Simuvation, brought an industry-leading mobile flight training studio, complete with the RAF-branded Redbird MX2, a single occupant, fully immersive, motion simulator. Leek, the founder of Simuvation, generously welcomed all conference attendees to experience…

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,…

In response to the increasing usage of our nation’s backcountry, and concern over preservation of aviation access, the RAF established a new Backcountry Etiquette Team (BET). The team’s goal is to strengthen the culture of stewardship using multilateral messaging regarding respectful backcountry flying practices. The 10 member team was introduced at the May RAF education…

The RAF is fortunate to have a deep bench of professional financial planning talent, coordinated by Steve Maus, CLU, MSFS, and Chartered Advisor of Philanthropy. We are here to learn what is important to you in your legacy planning. Last December, the RAF began sharing a series of planned giving ideas to help you take…

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…

The BLM is taking public comments on two Travel Management Plans, (TMPs) and the Bears Ears draft Resource Management Plan (RMP), which you’ve already heard about. RAF Utah Liaison and UBCP board member Wendy Lessig has followed the progress of each and urges that your help is needed NOW to preserve many Utah backcountry airstrips. You’ll simply…

RAF Utah Liaison and Utah Back Country Pilots board member Wendy Lessig reports that this spring, UBCP volunteers completed work to preserve several airstrip treasures. Recently Locomotive Springs was dragged. “Both runways are smooth enough for most planes to land, for now,” Lessig said. Here you’ll stand on the transcontinental airmail route and one of the concrete directional arrows, a sort of early…