FEATURED AIRSTRIP: ME-OWN, NEW MEXICO

If you’re looking to extend your backcountry flying season in the Southwest, consider plans to visit New Mexico’s Gila National Forest. Me-Own, 28 nm NE of Silver City, is one of Gila’s several recreational USFS airstrips, and has a 3,700 x 50 foot runway at an elevation of 7,554 feet. You can count on cool summer days and moderate winters among the ranges of desert grasses and mountain forests of ponderosa pine, pinyon-juniper, aspen, spruce, and fir. The Gila’s USFS backcountry airstrips are cooperatively maintained by RAF and New Mexico Pilots Association (NMPA) volunteers and provide access to this remote and beautiful region of the state. Sacaton, Rainy Mesa, Beaverhead, Negrito, and Jewett Mesa are "comfortably long and level runways [that] create a flying paradise,” according to the NMPA. Paved Reserve airport serves as a base for NMPA's annual Gila Regional Fly-In.


Me-Own, 1NM0 offers trail access to the Aldo Leopold Wilderness, just past the vault toilet. Here’s where you can join Section 23 of the Grand Enchantment Trail that stretches 770 miles from the Sonoran Desert near Phoenix to the outskirts of Albuquerque. This remote and rugged Wilderness trail passes Gila cliff dwellings, traverses canyons and verdant creek bottoms, and offers sweeping views from elevations reaching 10,770 feet at Mogollon Baldy. The NMPA assures us that the sluggish but venomous Gila Monster is “rarely encountered.” 


RAF New Mexico Liaison Ron Keller is working with the USFS to improve facilities at Me-Own thanks to the RAF’s cooperative Challenge Cost Share agreement with the Gila National Forest.


The USFS requires prior permission to land at this airstrip. For permission, please call the Gila Dispatch at (800) 538-1644 and ask for the Aviation Branch. Me-Own is also used for firefighting. Check with the USFS office in Silver City for conditions prior to use at 575-388-8451.


For the latest PIREPs, go to the NMPA website, and click "Backcountry PIREPs.” 


See the RAF Airfield Guide for more information. 


 - By Carmine Mowbray


Photo by Joyce Woods

Submitted February 1, 2026

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