WHAT IS RECREATIONAL AVIATION?
Photo by Kimberly Ewing Gill
From turf airstrips in mountain settings, to small suburban airports, the RAF understands that flying someplace for recreation means many things. It’s visiting special places where the laptop and briefcase aren’t coming along. The RAF supports recreational destinations with a grassroots feel, where there are no instrument procedures, and your radio only need be tuned to contact any others who may be in your vicinity.
Maybe your idea of recreation is landing on a turf airfield for a picnic with family and friends. Maybe it’s an overnight at an airport sharing views of the night sky with an astronomy club. Or tying down and joining a field trip to experience the miracle of a million birds on their migratory flight. The RAF supports one airfield alongside a national blueway, where visitors enjoy local dining and the opera house productions just a short walk away. How about landing at a South Dakota airfield in the middle of a picturesque blooming garden to pick flowers? No matter your preference, you appreciate amenities at these places, like shade canopies, picnic tables, fire rings, and sanitary facilities.
Maybe you relish the experience of using your mountain flying skills to land at a backcountry trailhead, then camp a night at the airstrip before that long hike into a Wilderness Area. You appreciate the luxury of a vault toilet nearby, a tent platform above the rocky ground, and a dry place to set up your camp stove for your freeze-dried dinner.
Whatever your idea of “recreation” is, the RAF is serious about its mission to preserve, improve, and create airstrips for recreational access, and invests volunteer labor, RAF grants, and other resources to help provide these improvements throughout our entire country – be it the public lands of the West, the quiet prairies in the middle, or the private gems in the East.
And you can learn more about them in our Airfield Guide. It’s free, and chock-full of useful information for planning your next journey.
Submitted April 29, 2025
By Carmine Mowbray