DOUGLAS LUMGAIR

California State Liaison

Douglas Lumgair grew up in San Diego with summers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where his great love for the outdoors took shape through backpacking, fishing and horsemanship. “At age 17, I set out across the country and Alaska, working various jobs and building real-world experience,” he says. By his mid-20s, with some “hard-earned wisdom from his travels,” he pursued a business management degree. A serendipitous vocational placement test revealed his natural aptitude for aviation – a field that promised what Douglass calls, the “perfect blend of adventure and technical challenge.”


Douglas immersed himself in the aviation world earning his A&P license and PPL with love for aircraft restoration. He often traded extra maintenance work for precious flight time.

“Everything about aviation resonated with me – from the details of maintenance to the continuous learning and pure joy of stick-and-rudder flying,” he says. His favorite pastime was gaining experience backcountry flying all around the Southwest and Baja in a mix of aircraft. “I was thrilled to be instructing and flying in a number of aircraft, including Stearmans and Twin Beach D-18s. The desire for new adventures and challenges drew me to fly my Cessna 170 up to Alaska for a season where I worked in Ketchikan as an A&P and Cessna 206 pilot.”

Back in Southern California in the mid-90s, he explains, “life took an interesting turn. While flying a C320 for owners of a winery and vineyard estate in Sonoma County, I was asked to step in as general manager.” He stayed in that role until retiring in 2022, spending his spare time continuing his passion for backcountry flying and instruction. 

In 2014, he’d taken on the restoration of a wrecked Husky on amphibs and had it in the air by 2016. Since then, he’s flown it extensively on wheels and floats throughout the western US, British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. “I love giving instruction in tailwheel and backcountry flying, helping pilots find the techniques that work for them,” he says.  

He lives in Sonoma County with his wife Julie, who shares his enthusiasm for flying adventures and the aviation community.

Douglas is thrilled to serve the RAF. “I’m excited to collaborate with fellow enthusiasts who share my dedication to promoting, enjoying, and preserving recreational aviation.”

dlumgair@theraf.org
(707) 484-6418

Recent Posts

IF WE COULD . . .

By Kodi Myhre • December 23, 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.

WORTH THE READ: STEF GOZA GUEST EDITORIAL

By Taylin Trafton • December 23, 2025
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 guest editorial is by Stef Goza, a pilot and an RAF Alaska liaison.

BILL DUGAN IS NEW NEBRASKA LIAISON

By lellington • December 21, 2025
Bill credits aviation for much of his success in business and the ability to serve his companies and family. What began in a Champ, and a Tri-Pacer owned by five people, turned into what Bill calls, “a key business tool” in which he accumulated 9,000 hours – in a Cheyenne, a Pilatus, and a TBM, where ninety-five percent of his flying was for business. “My retirement enabled me to recall ‘Why I Learned to Fly’, a slogan from an old RAF video.” Bill’s son, Patrick, purchased the C185 they now share. “While attending a business function, some associates arrived in corporate jets. As they joined up on the tarmac, the jet pilots gathered around Patrick’s 185, and one of the passengers asked, ‘What’s special about this?’ No explanation needed for this RAF audience,” Bill says. “My involvement in the RAF is, in a partial way, repaying the rewards aviation has endowed me with. Having been involved in many worthwhile nonprofits, this is one where financial support is only part of the picture. Physically participating in great projects that have a lasting effect, with good people, returns a great personal benefit,” he says. “My only regret is that I wasn’t there at the start.” Bill and his wife Jane are privileged to be able to split time between their long-time home in eastern Nebraska and Scottsdale, Arizona. While still serving on several boards, he enjoys golf “about every third shot,” biking, cars, and reading, but always looks forward to the time he can be involved in the RAF. “It’s flying with a purpose,” he adds. Bill can be reached at bdugan@theraf.org

Jake Hampton

December 15, 2025
AR Ambassador

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.