WORTH THE READ: MIKE TODD GUEST EDITORIAL

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 from Mike Todd, a career pilot and longtime RAF Supporter.

You might think that it would get old and stale, this flying thing. Modern avionics make navigation accurate and easy, and we have equipment that monitors every parameter of the engine that keeps us safely in the air, warning us if something is amiss. We have auto flight systems available for our light airplanes, even old ones like my 1956 Cessna 180, that rival those that have taken us around the world in jets. We take pride in answering the challenge of keeping skills current and working with others in the air traffic system to operate safely in busy airspace. But even with all the help from modern devices and equipment, there is still romance in flight. There is still a special feel with that “almost perfect” touchdown on a grass runway, and the sound of the cylinders cooling when there is no other sound than those of nature. It’s been that way for fifty six years and well over thirty thousand hours for me, and you would think I’d get over it. 

But there is something special about flying in general, and flying in the United States of America in particular. While light airplane aviation is alive all around the world, it’s different here. We enjoy freedom of flight that is unique to only a few places in the world. Non flyers are sometimes surprised to find that I live next to a runway where I can fly whenever and pretty much wherever I choose, and back when I earned my living flying big airplanes, some of my compatriots looked at my pictures and listened to my stories of flying the backcountry with a curious look in their eye. Nowadays, I sometimes meet up with some of those airline friends in the back country. I’d like to think I had something to do with that. 

On a nice August morning last Summer, I loaded a few tools into our 180 and pushed it out of its hangar into pre-dawn light. Some of the neighbors heard the engine start up, and more of them heard us leave. The 180 isn’t quiet at takeoff power, but we wound the prop back a bit, and as it is in the backcountry, that sound has a nice decrescendo, fading to quiet in just a moment or two, so the sleepy-heads went back to dreams, or thoughts of driving to work. 

We climbed out over the Washington Cascades and put the autopilot to work, munching on a breakfast muffin as we watched the Big Bend country of the Columbia river transition to the western Rocky Mountains and river drainages of the Pend Oreille, Clark Fork, and Flathead. My good old friend, the 180 was a magic carpet, and the scenery below was a demonstration of all those things the Geology Professor told us about way back when we were young and in a hurry. 

The mission that morning was to join friends from the Recreational Aviation Foundation at a cabin raising party at Ryan Field, the place Ben and Butchie Ryan carved out of the rocks and trees on the west slope of the Flathead Range, just outside the entrance to Glacier National Park. The Ryan story is symbolic of the mission of the RAF. It’s a story of a loving couple who created a dream they wanted to keep alive, and an organization of people dedicated to making sure that happened. The Ryans are gone now, and the future of Ryan Field is protected under the stewardship of the RAF. The airstrip is still special and requires some backcountry skill and care, but that is part of the character of the place. And thanks to the hard work, imagination, and financial backing of volunteers and supporters a big timber frame barn, as well as a pilot shelter, and those rustic cabins make Ryan Field a truly unique experience. 

For many of us in the West, Ryan Field is the poster child for the mission of the RAF, but it’s just a bookend to what is happening with the organization, and thanks to the efforts of aviators and supporters across the land, great things are happening in the name of Recreational Aviation from Alaska to Florida and California to Maine. Congratulations to the RAF on the first twenty years. Keep up the good work, I’ll look forward to seeing you “Out there”.  

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, the Backcountry and airplanes have been in Mike’s blood from his earliest days. He started flying in 1967, and his first plane, a somewhat neglected 1946 Aeronca Champ came out of the airport weeds and into his life when he was a junior in High School. College in the Midwest brought a degree in Aviation as well as his first flying job, and from there he was fortunate to make a living flying around the world, working up the ladder from Twin Otters in Alaska to 747’s at United. The old Champ introduced him to grass runways and backcountry places around the country, and seven years into retirement, those places, as well as the Super Cub and Cessna 180 that share his hangar with the old Champ continue to be his passions.

Submitted on May 23, 2023.

Posted in Guest Editorial, News

Recent Posts

IF WE COULD . . .

By Kodi Myhre • December 11, 2025
At about this time, every year, we have this conversation at the RAF about what our year end letter (code for asking for your financial support) should say to you, and about the RAF and the accomplishments of the past year.

RAF ADDS MICHIGAN LIAISON SCOTT ANTTILA

By Taylin Trafton • December 11, 2025
A Christmas gift of flight lessons from his parents started Scott Anttila’s aviation journey in 1985. “I learned at Johnson Field, a small grass strip tucked into the woods in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and that early exposure to simple backcountry flying stuck with me,” Scott says. Growing up in the U.P., he spent a lot of time outdoors and found that flying was another way to get to the places he liked to explore—especially the ones most people never saw. As he earned more ratings and eventually moved to the Detroit area for work, Scott realized he needed a way to stay connected to northern Michigan. He bought an airplane and used it to get back to the smaller airstrips and lake country he enjoyed. Along the way, he also flew gliders out of Frankfort, soaring along the Sleeping Bear Dunes and towing sailplanes over the Great Lakes. “Those flights gave me a different appreciation for the landscape and made me even more interested in the small, out-of-the-way airports scattered around the state,” he says. Visiting those kinds of places, Scott first came across the Recreational Aviation Foundation. He started using RAF-supported airstrips both inside and outside Michigan. “I noticed how well-kept they were and how much access they opened up,” he says, adding, ”Over the years, I’ve watched a number of grass strips close, which made the RAF’s mission feel especially important to me. Maintaining these airstrips keeps aviation connected to the outdoors and makes it possible for more people to reach the quiet, remote areas that inspired me to fly in the first place.” Scott joins the other two RAF Michigan Liaisons, General Grant and Tanmoy Ganguly. He can be reached at santtila@theraf.org . Submitted December 11, 2025.

VOLUNTEERS ENJOY MAGICAL VIEWS WHILE PREPARING WALKER RIDGE

By Taylin Trafton • December 11, 2025
“The word that comes to mind when I think of our second Walker Ridge work party is magical,” RAF California Liaison Doug Lumgair said, "even though it started off again with a truck stuck in the mud.” Volunteers began arriving Friday afternoon in a tailwheel Rans, a Super Cub, and Lumgair in his Cessna 170. A pickup with a big dump trailer brought the Polaris Ranger, and more pickups arrived. The runway surface posed major problems with boulders protruding from the surface. Everyone was eager to get started with pry bars and remove them. Once they fired up the generators to power the hammer drills, they discovered that this was the best method for attacking the rocks below the surface and breaking them up into pieces that they loaded into the trailer for removal. “At times, it felt like we had taken on an impossible task. But with steady work and persistence, by afternoon, we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Lumgair said.  In the Friday evening fire circle, they made new friends while sitting around a propane fire pit that had been cleverly transformed into a radiant heater by placing a washing-machine drum over it. Walker Ridge lies in a dark-sky area. Before the full supermoon rose, Lumgair said they could see the Milky Way with the naked eye. The campsite at the south end of Walker Ridge has a gorgeous view of the valley, and the view became “even more breathtaking as Central Valley tule fog filled the valley and the supermoon lit the fog, creating a shimmering white lake.” Lumgair said. Saturday morning, two crews quickly organized with hammer drills, and others began cutting brush along the runway edges. Volunteers had already removed what Lumgair called an incredible amount of brush during their first work party, but Saturday, they hauled out twelve more trailer loads. Late on Saturday, they had enough time to work on the rock outcroppings in the south turnaround area as well. "It was amazing that we were able to cut and haul so much brush and break down rocks and fill the resulting holes—all in one steady, hard-working day. Thank you very much to everyone for supporting the RAF in so many ways,” he said. Some stayed Saturday night to enjoy another beautiful evening. Work remains, and Lumgair is planning more work parties in the coming year to complete further improvements, some of which will require additional approval from the BLM. “Please let me know if you get up there this winter. I’d love to hear your thoughts and see any photos of your experience, Lumgair added. Doug Lumgair can be reached at dlumgair@theraf.org . Submitted December 11, 2025.

RAF FEATURED SUPPORTER: CHRIS NUGENT

By Taylin Trafton • December 9, 2025
Chris at TacAero in Fredericksburg, Texas to fly what he calls, "the mighty XCub. It's an awesome airplane,” he added.

IT WON'T HAPPEN AT ALL

By Taylin Trafton • December 9, 2025
That is the end of a quote that goes a bit like this: “It may not be easy, but if you don’t start, it won’t happen at all.” When I read that, I thought back 23 holiday seasons ago, about when the RAF got underway. We likely were a bit naïve about the road, or lack thereof, that was out front of the RAF, but we were wise enough to grasp that if the RAF were to become a successful contributor to our country’s recreational and backcountry aviation, the path would not be easy. What we did know was – and some of you have heard this before – “If not us, who? And if not now, when?” That simple realization got us started, or it wouldn’t have happened at all. The RAF works much that way today. We are a “jump in and figure it out” organization. We sense a need, and bypass the tendency to spend lots of time getting ready to get ready. As RAF Director Bill Brine of Massachusetts says, “The RAF has a bias towards action.” And we attract folks who have that same get-it-done attitude. What I try to do in this piece is relate these words to other parts of my life, and those who spend a few minutes reading them. With it being the giving season, I suggest that one of the best gifts you can perhaps give is one that says, “It might not be easy, but now is a good time to get going or (you guessed it), it won’t happen at all.” In this digital consumption world we live in, I urge you to be your best authentic you. We’re all bombarded with algorithms and social media. If you’re reading this, you are that authentic person the RAF seeks, who pitches in on the team that the RAF thrives on. You can be the wrapping paper around the gift of getting started, of helping others to take meaningful action, and accepting responsibility as opposed to taking credit, all while embracing the learning that comes from the occasional setback. If success had been a requirement ahead of passion, the RAF would not be where it is today. The RAF has proven that people with passion get things done. So, at this time of year, give that gift of passion and leadership, the kind the RAF works hard to exemplify. - John McKenna, RAF Chairman  Submitted December 9th, 2025.