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here to preserve and protect our back- country aviation habitats.”
As John and I ended our call, I asked about how we could tie-in the RAF’s mission to owners and opera- tors of cabin-class aircraft – the Twin & Turbine readership. He said, “The RAF membership includes a long list of owners and operators of twin-en- gine, cabin-class, turbine-powered aircraft. Whether solely for recreation or as a supplemental lift for business, our members also love to fly aircraft with the unique capabilities needed to access the remote and hard-to- reach strips that the RAF supports.”
One of those members is Tim Sheehy. Tim is a young en- trepreneur and aviator whose time as a United States Navy SEAL has shaped his business and approach to aviation. His company, Bridger Aerospace, based in Belgrade, Montana, is an aerial firefighting com- pany named after the Bridger Mountain Range, a subrange of the Rockies. Bridger Aero- space was founded in 2014 to support front-line firefighters with aerial fire suppression systems and has grown from operating a single plane to now having the largest super scoo- per fleet in the U.S. in less than eight years. “Our company is intrinsically linked to what the RAF does. We’re an aviation company that operates a lot out west and in Alaska. There’s a backcountry aspect to every- thing we do. Our job and our mission is also my passion. I
love aviation, and I don’t have to man- age a passion that I don’t do every day. It’s literally my job.”
The Montana aviation community is a small one. When discussing how Tim became acquainted with the RAF, he said, “Back in 2014, when I started Bridger, I got to know John [McKenna], and we struck up a friend- ship. And since my business has an intrinsic tie with backcountry f lying, it made sense to learn more about the RAF.” Tim described some of the main reasons for taking part in the
RAF: “Airport development goes one way, and that’s often unfortunately down. Once an airport is closed, es- pecially a backcountry grass strip, it most likely will never open again. We want to help take part in the pres- ervation and building of new infra- structure that helps support what we love to do, for both business and recreation.”
The RAF membership includes a long list of owners and operators of twin-engine, cabin-class, turbine-powered aircraft. Whether solely for recreation or as a supplemental lift for business, our members also love to fly aircraft with the unique capabilities needed to access the remote and hard-to-reach strips that
the RAF supports.
Bill McGlynn is the president of the RAF. He retired from a career in the computer industry in 2013 after working for Hewlett-Packard for 24 years. He became a pilot in 1995 and currently flies a backcountry 182. We discussed a few of the percep- tions surrounding backcountry flying and how those perceptions inform people not fully immersed in it. Bill said, “You see on social media a lot of times aircraft with 31-inch tires and no cowling or skin, which makes for shorter landing distances. And people watching that kind of stuff begin to think that type of equipment is required to access backcountry strips. But that can’t be farther from the truth.” He laughed, proclaiming, “We’re pushing back on that saying no, no, no – a Cessna 172 with 6-inch tires will do just fine on a large per- centage of our backcountry airstrips.”
Bill spoke in depth about the op- portunities that landowners have who built landing sites on their properties at one time or another. Many of these
folks have been former commercial pilots or private pilots who bought a getaway space they could fly to for escape on weekends or holidays. For those who have stopped flying or no longer need the airstrip, there are great tax benefits to donating the landing site to an organization like RAF. “We’re out there telling people that if they want their airstrip to go on thriving beyond their and their chil- dren’s lifetimes, RAF can maintain the strip for all to enjoy in perpetu- ity, keeping it open at no cost to the landowner – even while the owner is still alive.”
If there was anything I could pull together and distill as a common thread from my discussions with John, Tim and Bill, it was that fun and camaraderie are focal points to the overarching goals of preserving and maintaining access to our coun- try’s often overlooked recreational aviation resources. The relationships built within the RAF and with their partners are all strong due to the common thrill of backcountry avia- tion and the open communication provided by RAF’s leadership.
Certainly, for me, learning about the RAF and knowing there is a well- led organization out there protecting and preserving these great resources was encouraging. But getting to know a few of the RAF’s leaders and mem- bers was exciting because it fed my own aviation passion. My mantra on approach might be a little different these days, but the goal is the same – a safe, efficient landing at a place that brings excitement and joy. You can visit www.theraf.org to learn even more about this great organization and its benefits. Maybe you have one of those hard-to-find landing sites that could bring enjoyment to count- less enthusiasts for generations to come.
Lance Phillips is an aviation profes- sional, writer, pilot and photographer. He is executive director for the Pinnacle Air Network and owns Phillips Aero Services, an aviation marketing services provider. You can contact Lance at lance@phillipsaeroservices.com.
February 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 15