“The pilot shortage has caused many flight training providers to focus their operations primarily on recruiting and training professional pilot candidates,” said Charlie Gregoire, Redbird’s president and chief operations officer. “Consequently, pilots interested in pursuing recreational flying opportunities are left with little support beyond the typical $100 hamburger run. This new initiative with the RAF will broaden exposure to the many flying activities outside of training for a new certificate or rating, and arm pilots with information for how to approach them safely.”

• READ MORE: Recreational Aviation Foundation Remains the Sum of Its Hearts

Since 2006 Redbird has been building basic aviation training devices (BATDs) and advanced aviation training devices (AATDs) to supplement the educational process. The AATDs are used around the world by pilots, flight schools, colleges and universities, and K-12 programs.

The RAF was founded by a group of Montana pilots who realized that the threat of recreational airstrip closures was of national concern. The group is dedicated to preserving existing airstrips and creating new public-use recreational airstrips throughout the U.S.

The two entities are creating a catalog of resources covering topics such as practical flying skills and habits, planning and preparation, basic survival and first aid, and gear recommendations and usage.

Among the topics to be presented are: 

• What to pack and avoid packing for recreational flying adventures
• How to evaluate a potential landing zone
• How to read the wind without ATIS (or even a windsock)
• When to land (or not land) with a tailwind
• Nonstandard traffic patterns
• Basic first aid and triage
• Leave-no-trace and good-neighbor flying

How It Will Work

Over the next 18 months, Redbird will be releasing the material in written and video formats at no cost to pilots or training providers. In addition the organizations are collaborating on the creation of training scenarios for Redbird’s subscription-based personalized proficiency training app, Redbird Pro.

• READ MORE: We Fly: The RAF at 20 Years into Moose Creek

“This partnership with Redbird is exciting and yet one more piece in the aviation puzzle,” said John McKenna, RAF chairman. “We hope this excites a few more folks about aviation and perhaps the joy of recreational flying.”

For those lucky enough to be at this week’s Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, Redbird has a special edition of its MX2 aviation training device with a custom RAF livery on display to raise awareness of the initiative. The organizations are showcasing it in the Redbird booth (NE-51, NE-52).

In July, the device will be on display at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Pilots and prospective pilots are welcome to demo the device and try their hand at a series of recreational flying scenarios.

The post Redbird, Recreational Aviation Foundation Partner to Boost Backcountry Flight Training appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The airstrips defended and nurtured by the Recreational Aviation Foundation have triggered an urgent message to keep them safe. They represent some of our most precious resources—places for pilots to touch down and gather—beyond the physical runways they contain.

Whether a manicured landing lawn in Maryland, or a sandy strip hideaway in Florida, or a desert oasis in New Mexico, or a gravel bar by a lake in Oregon, these points on the map string together the lives and hearts of the RAF volunteers who have kept them up over the past 20 years—building friendships along with the fences and branded fire rings they leave behind.

Founded in 2003, when a handful of aviation friends came together with a shared mission around a campfire at Schafer Meadows airstrip (8U2) in Montana, RAF now stands third-largest among nonprofit aviation associations. And its reach embraces all pilots, as it keeps vital airports and backcountry strips in play—assessed, upgraded, and safe to use. RAF chairman

John McKenna was one of those initial pilots around the campfire, and he recalls their consensus: “This really needs doing, we agreed. We didn’t know what ‘this’ was,” he admits, but they soon discovered the “human capital” raised by the group, though hard to measure adequately, was exactly what was needed to save airstrips.

While not a membership organization per se—there are no annual dues, no codified list of benefits, and no chapters—RAF remains without question driven by the collective efforts of a committed group of folks. More so than a lot of membership associations I’ve given time and money to over the years, in fact. You can donate—in cash or through buying its cool clothing, tools, and other gifts via the website—and/or you can volunteer. That’s it. It’s a simple equation that has added up to a large sum of investment and effort over the past two decades. To date, more than 11,000 pilots and aviation enthusiasts have “joined” the RAF in these ways.

The Last Best Places

Most pilots become involved in the RAF because of other pilots—they hear of friends in the aviation family talking about all the fun they had putting up cabins and transporting goods. For me, my connection happened just like this—resonating especially since I spent a lot of my early flying time in Colorado and have been hiking in the Idaho and Montana mountains since I was a kid, barely able to shoulder a pack. To this day, I’m way more comfortable in hiking boots than high heels—as anyone who has seen me try to walk in the latter will attest.

My first flyout with RAF folks came in the height of the pandemic summer of 2020, when I found myself in Wisconsin in July without an “Oshkosh” at which to spend time with my aviation family.

I called up Wisconsin-based FLYING contributor Jason McDowell, and he put me in touch with Cessna 170 guy and photographer Jim Stevenson and Husky owner and RAF social media ambassador Ross Wilke to flit around a few strips they called home in their backyard northwest of Madison. RAF director Jeff Russell wasn’t around in his hangar at Morey Field (C29) to join us, but our paths would cross in July 2023 when I sat in on his presentation at EAA AirVenture on what it takes to join an RAF work party—or launch one at a worthy field.

My next intersection came in October 2020 with RAF director Steve Taylor, recently retired from Boeing Flight Services and a former colleague of mine. Taylor and his son Finley have made a point of participating in a wide range of RAF service projects together, strengthening their already close bond as Fin has earned his pilot certificate. Taylor and I flew around the San Juan Islands in his Cessna “184-and-a-half”—there are few projects in Washington right now, though the folks there stand ready to assist and do so quite a bit in neighboring states, like Idaho and Montana.

Moose Creek

At the heart of RAF lies the work party, and I really needed to get some mud under the tires in order to understand what this was all about. After amassing a number of texts, schedule changes, and other machinations, FLYING photographer Stephen Yeates and I finally made it to Moose Creek U.S. Forest Service airstrip (1U1) in Idaho for an end-of-season, get-it-in-before-the-snow-flies work project led by Bill McGlynn, current RAF president. Because Moose Creek sits at a relatively low elevation of 2,454 feet msl, it stays open later in the fall than other strips in this part of the Rocky Mountains.

The goal of the party was to begin replacing the couple thousand feet of fence surrounding the corrals and cabins of the oldest USFS ranger station still in operation. Because of its location in the heart of the wilderness, the use of motorized vehicles and other equipment is strictly limited or prohibited, therefore all of the materials for construction and operation of the station must be brought in by pack mule or aircraft.

The USFS has used a Short Sherpa to deliver bulky goods and materials, such as the 10-foot-long rails that make up much of the fencing. But with additional airlift a clear need, Daher stepped up this past summer to support the operations within Idaho—the location of its Kodiak manufacturing facility—and its environs with the use of Kodiak 100s and 900s by RAF pilots.

Nicolas Chabbert, CEO of Daher Kodiak in the U.S. and senior vice president of Daher’s aircraft division, said that the donated aircraft time fit perfectly into both the company’s responsibility to the community, as well as leveraging the single-engine turboprop’s capabilities.

“Our contribution to the Recreational Aviation Foundation is supported by the fact we are in Idaho,” said Chabbert when we caught up at NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas after the mission. “And we are very interested in preserving and conserving these strips—in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. We believe that the best way to help is not to just come with a cash contribution, but [with] the use of a Kodiak 100 or Kodiak 900. [The RAF] needs to load and fly in some very basic stuff. It could be a bear box, so that you won’t have any problem at night if you go and camp under the wing of your airplane.”

He also added the Kodiaks could fly in loads of materials to fence the airports—and the people to make that happen.

Hauling It In

For our flight into Moose Creek, we met up with RAF volunteer pilot J.C. Carroll and one of the Kodiak 100s at Daher’s R&D hangar in Sandpoint (KSZT) on a Friday afternoon in mid-October. We had all of our camping and photography gear—plus suits and other finery for the NBAA-BACE show in Vegas we would fly to the following week. Carroll trusted me with the controls for part of our flight over Lake Pend Oreille and the 143 nm south to Idaho County Airport (KGIC). That’s where we picked up our camp cooks, Fred Hebert and Alex Cravener, and much of the food for the next few days, packed in Styrofoam coolers. It made for quite a load, but we were still off the pavement in about one-third of the 5,000-foot runway at Grangeville.

We tracked the drainage of the Selway River up to its confluence with Moose Creek, where the crossing grass runways of the ranger station perch on a shelf over the tumbling waters on either side. Carroll took us overhead for a survey of the site, then lined up for the “new, long” Runway 19 (4,100 feet). Unloading at the apex of the shorter, original 2,300-foot-long runway—first cleared by the Forest Service starting in 1931—we were soon pitching a blaze-orange, six-person Marmot special and blowing up the air mattress that would guarantee a cozy night. After a campfire around a reburning and efficient Solo Stove and a review of the next day’s plan of attack, McGlynn sent us off to get a solid night of sleep in the quietest spot I have bunked down in many moons. Only the predawn calls of a local owl broke the intense silence.

Coffee went on the wood stove early Saturday morning in the cookhouse, and soon after we sorted into ad hoc groups to tackle the work ahead. First came the demolition, with sledges flying, and then we stacked the rotted beams in a bonfire heap to burn later once enough snow lay on the ground to dampen the very real fire danger. Then came the construction, which we soon put into a rhythm, with many hands making quick work of the setting and hammering of nails. In a day, we put up about 600 feet of new fence—and by the close of the project, the group of about 25 volunteers finished 1,300 feet plus odds and ends. They only stopped work because they ran out of materials.

According to McKenna, the USFS folks were surprised that so much had been accomplished. “They can’t believe all this happened,” he told me in early November. But that’s the beauty of the RAF’s collaborative programs with entities such as the Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, and Bureau of Land Management—a committed team of passionate pilots and enthusiasts can get the job done. In a recent note, McGlynn was already “firing everyone up for next year.” The USFS will coordinate next summer’s loads of fence rail to fly in by Sherpa—and the Moose Creek RAF work parties plan to convene in September to complete the roughly 1,450 feet of fencing remaining for that project.

Truly the Sum of Its Hearts

In a recent online newsletter from the RAF, McKenna encapsulated the past 20 years: “Like a long cross-country flight, the RAF has always had a destination in mind. En route, we have had to adjust. Without taking into account the deviation and changes that take place in our magnetic world—just like in the RAF world—we might lose our way. Like magnetic north, the world continues to move, and so has the RAF.”

In every state of the union, there are opportunities for local RAF volunteers to identify airstrips that need attention and the appropriate state, local, and private agencies to engage and partner with to ensure these efforts continue.

Carroll sums up the experience—and why he continues to volunteer with the organization.

“I’ve been a part of the RAF for about six years. In that time I’ve been as far west as the San Juans and as far east as northeastern Maine, as far north as [Upper Peninsula] Michigan and south to Florida. I live in Indiana. I’ve visited many areas in between. The common thread in all of those travels is not the airstrips or the scenery, it’s the people. These are people I want to spend my time with when I can. Everyone I run into at the RAF are bonded by the selfless culture of the organization. We (the RAF) profess this when we go to the backcountry and ask folks to ‘leave it better than you found it.’

“Well, I have to admit I feel that I’m better off after spending time volunteering with RAF than before the event because of the people. Sweat equity amongst my friends that leaves a lasting impact on the backcountry—how does it get much better than that?”

Truly, it doesn’t. Because the one airstrip that happens to touch your soul can connect all of us to aviation— and around that RAF fire ring with each other.

Moose Creek USFS Airstrip (1U1)

From the RAF Airfield Guide, subject to change

Elevation: 2,412 feet msl

Region: North Pacific

State: Idaho

Near: Kooskia, Idaho

Comm: 122.900

Fuel: None

Lat/Long: 46.12453 / -114.92335 46° 7′ 28.32″ / -114° 55′ 24.06″

Variation: 13E (05-14-2018)

Time Zone: UTC-7 (UTC-8 during standard time)

Contact: Nez Perce Forest Air Officer

Address: 104 Airport Road, Grangeville, Idaho, 83530

Phone: 208-983-9571

The Airfield Guide

Like the pocket tool you reach for when you plan to fly, the RAF’s airfield guide comes in handy every time you turn around, it seems.

Once you acknowledge the necessary disclaimers, reminding of the risks and responsibilities inherent whenever we fly, you can access airstrip information through a U.S. map. Chip Gibbons created the guide, and RAF liaisons compiled data for the airfields listed, according to Kodi Myhre, RAF’s director of marketing.

“They find the strips, evaluate the recreational value, and talk with the owner/manager of the strip,” Myhre said. “Arkansas liaison Dave Powell enters the data into the guide.”

Amanda Levin, RAF liaison to the state of Wisconsin, has pitched in her programming skills to expand the guide’s reach as well. It’s another example in the RAF of how many hands help create a great product.

How to Help the RAF

Even if you don’t consider yourself a carpenter or a camp cook, you can find a way to help the RAF with its mission.

• Fly supplies into a strip for a work project.

• Provide camping gear to a team on a project.

• Make baked goods to help feed the workers.

• Donate your time and skill with back office tasks—just ask what the need is.

• Suggest to friends and family that you’d accept a donation to the RAF in lieu of a present for a birthday or other special occasion.

After all, the work serves all of us who fly, whether we make it into the true backcountry or not.

This column first appeared in the December 2023/Issue 944 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Recreational Aviation Foundation Remains the Sum of Its Hearts appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

They represent some of our most precious resources in aviation, and a collection of more than 11,000 volunteers coordinated by the RAF have helped maintain them and promote them to the flying community.

Join FLYING’s editor-in-chief Julie Boatman as she flies in with a work crew in a Daher Kodiak 100 to experience the camaraderie and satisfaction that participating in such an important effort can bring.

Look for the full story in our feature in the latest issue of FLYING, Issue 944 for December 2023/January 2024. Subscribers will receive it in their mailbox or inbox soon.

The post We Fly: The RAF at 20 Years Into Moose Creek appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Sappington’s second trip in 2019 was a wholly different experience. The airport, active since 1952, had begun showing its age. 

“The airport and property went through a few different hands and ended up with a gentleman who wanted to put it in the hands of the community through a nonprofit organization,” Sappingotn said. “So, he donated the airport and property to a nonprofit called Blue Sky Center. They are a community development organization, whose objective is to help the people of the Cuyama Valley. They always tried to take care of the airstrip but didn’t have a lot of money to do so. As a private GA airport, they are not eligible for federal airport grants.

“I flew back to the airport in 2019, and there were weeds all over the runway, so I had to be careful about how I landed. The folks at Blue Sky explained that their mower had broken and were unable to mow the runway. That kind of gives you a feel for what kind of condition the surface was in. Caltrans [California Department of Transportation] closed the airport for that and a few other issues. So, I asked whether any pilots had offered to help reopen the airport. I was told that some had offered to help but hadn’t come through. I thought maybe I could provide a focus for pilot support and see if we could reopen the airport.”

Since that time, Sappington and his wife, Nancy, have been an integral part of the flurry of activity at the airport. He explained that in order to recertify the airport, Caltrans required three major repairs: the runway, the runway overrun safety area, and the segmented circle.

It took a lot of effort to see the improvements through, according to the couple. A sizable collection of people pitched in to help get the airport reopened, including a dedicated aviator and entrepreneur from the northern part of California.

“About the time that we realized that the runway couldn’t be patched and had to be resurfaced, Blue Sky Center received an enquiry from a fellow pilot and Cessna 182 owner by the name of William Randolph Hearst III,” Sappington said. “He is in publishing, like his grandfather was, and was in New Cuyama a few decades before doing an article about the nearby [Sisquoc] Condor Sanctuary. So, he knew about the airport and the town, and reached out to the airport manager, [Emily] Johnson, asking how he could help. It was great timing, as I had come up to speed with the airport’s issues, and he came in saying that he might like to help.

“In the fall of 2021, at a volunteer work party event, we were trying to figure out our options for reopening the airstrip when one of the pilots, Mike Kent, asked if he could call the Caltrans aeronautics office to see if they could help. We huddled on the tarmac around Mike’s cell phone and explained our dilemma to [agency safety officer Dan] Gargas, who spent 40 minutes with us discussing some possible options to reopening the airport.

“When I later conveyed our Caltrans call to Mr. Hearst, he asked for a range of bids to better understand the options. It became apparent we needed a formal group to manage the scope of the effort. We formed the ‘L88 Circle’ with [Emily], Mike, Nancy, and glider pilot Kevin Shaw. With the help of another pilot, Jim Mitchell, a civil engineer and contractor, we gathered several rounds of quotes and found an inexpensive yet robust approach for paving the runway.”

These conversations would quickly take hold and improvements made.

“Mr. Hearst graciously provided the funds for the airstrip’s repavement and reconstruction of the runway safety areas,” Sappington said. “We reached out to the pilots and aviation enthusiasts for the remaining funds needed for airport striping and necessary improvements to the parking area. Work started on July 11, 2022, with Nancy and I as the Blue Sky Center project managers. With the support of the Blue Sky Center staff, many aviation volunteers, and dedicated contractors, the construction was completed on time.”

To the excitement of general aviation pilots in the area, New Cuyama Airport reopened in October 2022. The airport now boasts a smooth asphalt runway that measures 3,380 feet long. The Sappingtons emphasized that the airport is “away from it all.” But its remoteness, yet close proximity to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, is one of its biggest draws to Southern California aviators, not to mention those from nearby states.

“It’s a unique place and it is so remote,” Nancy Sappington said. “You feel like you are in the middle of nowhere, and you are. The runway is longer than the town, which is three blocks wide. There is camping right next to the airstrip. We have received one grant from the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) and are in phase one of that project, putting in some shade structures, platforms to put tents on, and signage. We would also like to create an area for big tire folks to taxi off the runway to a camping area that’s a little more remote with a shower facility.” 

She also highlighted several other overnight accommodations nearby, including rentable huts and the Cuyama Buckhorn, a renovated historic roadside resort that reportedly offers pilot discounts.

Steve Sappington also spoke to the future of New Cuyama Airport.

“The [Blue Sky] board is trying to plan for recurring maintenance of the runway, as well as future improvement projects,” he said. “We would also like to make it easier for people to visit things, such as Carrizo Plain National Monument, which is next door. We just had a superbloom, which was so magnificent.”

“And one of the coolest things to do here, since it’s a daytime-use-only airport, is going and sitting out on the runway at night and stargazing or watching a launch from Vandenberg [Space Force Base]. It’s kind of magical, and the feeling of remoteness and solitude is something that’s hard to get from the metropolitan areas that are only an hour or two away for pilots. That’s one of the big draws, I think.”

Pilots can stay apprised of New Cuyama Airport’s progress, as well as contribute to its efforts, at L88 Airstrip—Cuyama (visitcuyama.com).

The post Couple Take Lead on Reopening New Cuyama Airport appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The point made? The composite structure is no more fragile than a similar aluminum prop, with the same ground-handling operations and repair categories as well. And the performance gains shown by the transition to the new props on its TBM 960, Kodiak 900, and Kodiak 100 Series III models prove their worth. “We are getting lighter weight,” said Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s Aircraft Division, “and, of course, the low noise and vibration is something that we’re particularly interested in, on the highest power output on the Kodiak 900,” where the Pratt & Whitney PT6A-140A tops out at 950 hp. 

• READ MORE: We Fly the Daher Kodiak 900, Ready for Grand Adventures

The weight savings of 6.3 pounds translates into greater takeoff performance—and reasonable maintainability in the field as operators of the Kodiak 100 have experienced since 2014. The nickel-cobalt edge can be stripped and replaced, said J.J. Frigge, CEO of Hartzell, “and so you’re getting a brand-new leading edge—and also you’re adding material back to the blades, so that you’re restoring the blade to factory dimensions.”

Made for the Backcountry

“The goal was to…go in and out of backcountry runways the same way we had done it previously, but now we are significantly reducing the noise impact,” said Chabbert. “So we are having a huge benefit when it comes to places not only in Europe but also around the world where noise matters.” Daher’s corporation as a whole has invested a great deal in composites manufacturing as well, particularly in thermoplastics that can be recycled, repaired, and even welded like more traditional materials.

Daher debuted its Kodiak 900 last year at Oshkosh to great response—including from agencies taking on special missions, though it has struggled a bit to translate the momentum into production as it faces similar supply chain issues plaguing the aerospace industry as a whole. Still, Chabbert noted that Daher expects to deliver eight of the 900s in 2023 and twice that in 2024. FLYING honored the 900 with its Editors’ Choice Award for Aircraft this year.

• READ MORE: Daher Shows Off Kodiak 900, 100 & New TBM 960 Styles 

The 900 has created its own category, in a way. It was positioned as a larger, faster, more upscale version of the Kodiak 100 series, and though this has certainly been true, Daher’s flight ops pilots have witnessed even better results in remote, unimproved strips than they originally uncovered during the testing prior to Part 23 type certificate approval. 

This means the 900 can be used to support a wide variety of the humanitarian and relief missions for which the 100 was first developed—though both models continue to serve. 

“We care to support associations—especially nonprofit associations—that are really after something that is good for aviation,” said Chabbert. “One that is absolutely natural for us is the Recreational Aviation Foundation…We are super happy to be able to provide the use of the Kodiak 100 to cover all of the northwest activity for RAF…and to load and carry some of the heavy stuff into places that are literally impossible to get to by road.”

Daher recently supported two of the RAF’s rehabilitation projects, including one at the Moose Creek Ranger Station (1U1) in Idaho earlier this summer. The U.S. Forest Service strip was originally created 92 years ago using heavy equipment but now must be supported without mechanized equipment—save for aircraft. Daher donated the use of a Kodiak 900 to move materials, including tractor parts and shingles, that normally would have required mules or a helicopter to put into position. The RAF 100 is one display at AirVenture along with the 900 and TBM 960.

TBM Milestones

The TBM 960 launched out of the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in April 2022, and it has now logged its 80th delivery of the model to a private customer in the U.S. this month. It also marks a total of 488 aircraft in the TBM 900 series—the 900, 910, 930, 940, and 960—brought to the market overall since the TBM 900’s first flight a decade ago.

• READ MORE: Quest to Daher

The 960 debuted with the first dual-channel FADEC turboprop engine, the PT6E-66XT, with its proprietary engine and propeller electronic control system (EPECS) automating engine start and other management, and a data transmission and control unit streaming more than 100 data points to internal memory. Now, with Garmin’s official release of PlaneSync this week, the TBM 960 can come out into the open as having the GDL60 datalink controller at the heart of PlaneSync. The data transfer facilitated by the GDL60 transfers engine and other data upon landing, allowing for deep analysis and trend monitoring.

Daher Growth

Daher continues its growth and expansion into the U.S. market as well as in France, with more strategic acquisitions in the past few months, including Assistance Aeronautique et Aerospatiale (AAA) in France to strengthen its industrial services proposition globally. 

“We want to grow the business. We want to grow the company,” said Didier Kayat, CEO of Daher. “The group altogether will be at 1.8 billion next year—1.7 billion this year—with half of the business as manufacturing and half of the business as services. We need to become more international—we did the grand opening of our new headquarters in the U.S. in February, and we need to innovate in order to decarbonize, because it’s becoming more and more important.”

In this vein, Daher presented its EcoPulse hybrid-electric technology demonstrator at the Paris Air Show in June.

The post Daher Celebrates Milestone TBM Deliveries, Kodiak Success appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The Ohio-based company has received the supplemental type certificate for the Cessna 180 powered by Continental O-470-As of serial numbers 41,000 and higher.

The Voyager was previously approved for other Cessna 180/182/185/206 models powered by the Continental -520 and -550 engines.

The Voyager propeller features scimitar aluminum blades for optimal performance, including increased takeoff acceleration and exceptional climb rate, while offering the same or better cruise speeds. The prop is positioned specifically for backcountry aircraft.

The propeller can be obtained by contacting Hartzell Propeller or one of its recommended service facilities. The Voyager propeller is being sold as part of Hartzell’s Top Prop Performance Conversions line.

According to J.J. Frigge, president of Hartzell Propeller, the Voyager model was introduced in 2019 and its continued growth in popularity inspired the propeller manufacturer to seek more applications—and taking it to the backcountry was a natural fit.

“We are also excited to partner with the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) to offer its members a $1,000 discount on the regular price of Voyager props from now until the end of 2023,” Frigge said.

“The Voyager is a real tribute to Hartzell Propeller’s commitment to backcountry pilots,” said RAF’s chairman, John J. McKenna, Jr. “It shows that they are paying attention to what the market is looking for, they hear what we’re saying, and they understand. Hartzell really hit the nail on the head with this one. I’ve had a number of different propellers on my 185, and the Voyager has outperformed them in all quadrants. Not to mention, it’s a great looking propeller.”

Hartzell Helps Protect Backcountry Strips

When a member of the RAF organization buys the Voyager, Hartzell Propeller is making a $250 contribution directly to the RAF organization. The mission of the non-profit RAF is to preserve, maintain and create public-use recreational airstrips for backcountry access throughout the United States. The donation program is in place until the end of 2023.

Hartzell History

Hartzell Aviation was founded in 1917 and since then has expanded beyond propeller technology. The company’s flagship company is Hartzell Propeller, the global leader in advanced technology aircraft propeller design and manufacturing for business, commercial, and government customers. Hartzell designs next-generation propellers with innovative blended airfoil technology and manufactures them with revolutionary machining centers, robotics, and custom resin transfer molding curing stations.

The post Hartzell Voyager Propeller Approved for Cessna 180s appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

It all started last winter. Fed up with endless frustrations inherent in my public-sector job, I began exploring options in an entirely different career. By spring of this year, I had accepted a new job that is 100 percent remote and allows me to live anywhere. By any measure, it was a huge improvement.

Initially, visions of unbridled freedom filled my head. Shall I leave Wisconsin and move up to the northern Michigan paradise I love so dearly? Or should I move back to live closer to family and friends near Detroit? Then there’s always the possibility of branching out and trying someplace wildly different, with no snow, humidity, or mosquitos at all. The mind boggled at the possibilities, but I ultimately decided I’d like to move back to the area in which I grew up, near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Certain Accommodations

As I began to scour the various real estate websites, one thing became very clear: Great housing options were easy to find…but great hangar options, not so much. As a single guy with no kids and the ability to fit every last non-motorized personal possession into the footprint of one small car, even the most modest studio apartments or tiny houses would suffice. The airplane, however, demanded certain accommodations.

First and foremost, it would require a good T-hangar. As I would be remaining in a northern climate, an outdoor tie down wouldn’t suffice. I had no interest in clearing snow and ice off of the airplane before every flight, nor did I want to expose the airframe to UV rays and violent, hail-filled thunderstorms.

An open hangar without a front door wouldn’t cut it, either. For lack of a better option, I used one briefly when I first bought the airplane. I wasn’t thrilled about the bird droppings that collected atop the airframe, and I definitely wasn’t thrilled about the idea of various other creatures taking up residences of their own within it. 

No, a decent, fully-enclosed hangar with a concrete floor would be required. Electricity for my engine heater would be necessary for the cold months, and it would have to be an individual T-hangar as opposed to a communal hangar, where the airplane is subject to hangar rash from others. This combination, I came to learn, was an exceedingly rare commodity in the area I was considering. 

To make matters worse, I’d also require an option for landing on grass. I installed a set of tundra tires this year, and operating from hard surfaces quickly chews up the soft rubber. Even ignoring this, however, I simply prefer taking off from and landing on grass, as it’s more forgiving when it comes to taildraggers and crosswinds.

Grass is fun, too. When the conditions are just right, you can open up the side window and use the sound of dandelion heads smacking against the left tire to precisely calibrate your flare and landing. I once took a flight instructor friend up for a ride in a Cessna 152 and did this without revealing my secret. He was mystified at my ability to hammer out one perfect landing after another. I finally came clean about 10 years later and we shared a good laugh.

The requirement for a grass option doesn’t necessitate an actual grass runway. Thanks to the efforts of the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF), the FAA recently acknowledged turf operations within runway safety areas. These operations most commonly entail taking off and landing from the grass immediately adjacent to an existing hard-surfaced runway. Good airports that lack a grass runway recognize the benefits and welcome such operations.

My No. 1 airport choice was the airport at which I did all of my primary training: the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport (KARB) about 30 miles west of Detroit, Michigan. It met nearly all of my requirements. The T-hangars were nice and well-maintained, the airport was situated right where I wanted to live, and it was equipped with a 2,750-foot-by-110-foot grass runway that intersects with the main, paved runway. 

However, my excitement was tempered when I learned that there were 33 people on the hangar waiting list. Frustrated, I mailed in a nonrefundable $100 check to secure position No. 34. The owner of the local FBO estimated that it would most likely take more than a year—and possibly as many as three—for me to reach the front of the line. 

Still motivated to find a hangar, I opened up a VFR sectional chart and began working my way outward in an ever-increasing radius. My findings were bleak. Every direction I looked, there were either no T-hangars available, the airports had fallen into disrepair, or my calls were simply never returned. Ann Arbor appeared to be the one and only option that would meet my needs.

Discouraged, I reflected upon what this meant for my living situation. I’d sold my house earlier in the year and had since found an inexpensive apartment, still in the Madison, Wisconsin, area. I was renting a great hangar at a nearby private field with a beautiful, 3,100-foot grass runway. Best of all, I had, over the preceding year, met some really great friends who got together for all kinds of flying adventures pretty regularly.

Although it wasn’t close to my friends and family in Michigan, it was an enviable situation. 

A Lot To Offer

Before long, it occurred to me that I’d only just scratched the surface of what Wisconsin flying had to offer. From lush grass strips, to remote northern destinations near Lake Superior, to uncharted strips in the surrounding counties—potential adventures were in no short supply. 

Even the barren, sub-zero, Arctic-esque winter months had a lot to offer. A couple of years ago, my friends Jim and Ross took me along for some landings on a nearby frozen lake. It was a blast, and now that I had an airplane of my own, I could join them in my own machine.

Exploring frozen lakes can be a really fun winter activity. After confirming the ice is sufficiently thick, usually by the presence of large diesel pickups driving to and from ice-fishing shanties, you can land and park on the ice at the nearest lakeside restaurant. There, you can enjoy some excellent local fish while admiring your airplane against the vivid blue sky and white landscape. 

While I’m sure similar opportunities exist over in Michigan, there’s a certain lakeside fish-fry culture in Wisconsin that makes it particularly enjoyable.

The Airplane Was Steering Me

Gradually, my frustration with my inability to find a good hangar option in Michigan was displaced by visions of autumn and winter flying adventures where I was already living. Sure, I still wanted to move away in the long term. But in the shorter term, if the main problem was that I had to continue exploring my current state with some good friends, well, that’s a good problem to have.

I also reflected on the irony in the greater scheme of things. On any given flight, I steer the airplane to the places I want to go. But when it came to choosing which city and state I wanted to live in, the airplane was steering me. I may have been stuck in limbo, but maybe limbo wasn’t such a bad place to be.

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It’s a group known for its proactive approach to keeping airports open—so it’s no surprise that the folks at the Recreational Aviation Foundation have kept busy over the past few months. Projects abound across the country that can be supported with small work parties and private action well suited to the current state of general aviation operations.

One project well underway: the raising of funds to raise a barn adjacent to Ryan Field (2MT1), near West Glacier, Montana. The 30-by-40-ft post-and-beam Amish-style venue will host events and bathroom facilities in the future—once the team’s ready to put up the structure in an old-fashioned group effort. Ryan Field is privately owned by the RAF following a donation from Ben and Agnes “Butchie” Ryan—to fly in, you need to agree to “request and receive a current safety briefing on an annual basis,” according to the RAF.

Another recent win celebrated by the RAF is the continued operation of Isle Airport (MY72), near the Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota. Dave Retka, president of the Isle Airport Association reported to the RAF in early June that the Isle city council had voted in favor of keeping the airport open. According to the story on the RAF website, “Isle airport is listed on the charts as private. The IAA operates the airport with donations and membership dues, and some fundraising. At this time, the airport will remain private, and not seek ‘public’ status.”

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