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
I live in Texas and I am sure there are lots of strips in our state that could be utilized. I currently know of 2 in Crystal Beach, TX but I think the people are afraid of the lability of planes landing on their property. It is my understanding the RAF played a big roll in getting the Fly OZ in Arkansas started. I would like to know how you managed to to get people to be willing to allow pilots to land on their strips without that lability fear so we could get something like Fly OZ in Texas.
CJ Sebastian
Thanks for your comment CJ. The Fly-Oz effort in Arkansas did require a lot of communication with landowners regarding liability. A large part of those conversations was the Recreational Use Statute in Arkansas. Recreational Use Statutes (RUS) are meant to protect landowners from liability when they allow the public to enter their land for recreational activities. There are a few exceptions to that protection, including if landowners charge a fee for use of their land or if there’s malicious intent to injure someone on the part of the landowner. Texas also has a Recreational Use Statute. It doesn’t contain aviation language, but that doesn’t mean aviation wouldn’t be considered a legitimate form of recreation. We will reach out to you to continue the conversation about liability.
I would very much like to speak with any of the fellows about how we could move things here in Texas. It is a shame to think we are the biggest state in the lower 48 and I can only find maybe 5 strips on your map. I will look up the RUS for Texas.
CJ, as a RAF Ambassador here in Texas I might be able to shed a little light on the subject. Any chance you can make the AOPA Town Hall meeting at KRED next Saturday ? The RAF is there serving coffee and doughnuts… Steve/KJDD
Sorry, meant KRBD….