WHAT A RIDE

Preflight the plane, load up the gear, grab someone to join you, and head to the backcountry. The RAF is celebrating its 20th year in 2023 and we hope you are marking your calendar to celebrate with us all year long at this family reunion. I know what you’re thinking — that family reunions are where all your eccentric relatives show up. Well, you are spot on with that one. We in the backcountry community were clearly that strange cousin the whole family talked about back then. But over the last 20 years we have matured and grown, now seemingly the folks everybody wants to meet and spend time with. Funny how that turned out. 



To kick off this first month of our celebration we simply want to thank all of you. Twenty years ago when those original six sat around the campfire in the backcountry of Montana to talk about saving these special places they had one goal — save these airstrips. They really had no idea of the impact their idea would have, combined with a lot of volunteer help. 

This is your RAF, driven by hard working folks all across the country who have become the RAF family. We work side by side, digging holes for outhouses, plumbing shower houses, mowing grass and yes, we build campfire spots. We fly, we laugh and then sit around that campfire under the stars and share our stories. Together, we have celebrated the births of children and grandchildren, weddings and graduations, and shared sorrows at the loss of loved ones. The RAF is our family, your family. 


Yes, we have accomplished many things, and yes we celebrate those accomplishments — but we want to celebrate YOU because without the strength of family none of those things could have happened.


From Maine to Washington, Florida to Alaska and most everything in between. Let’s celebrate the RAF Way by going flying, thanking a volunteer, patting one another on the back for everything these 20 years represent.


Enjoy this year, and when you look in the mirror with a little grin, remember, you are a part of all of this. Yup, you are that eccentric relative. Just saying!

John McKenna
RAF Chairman

Submitted on December 29, 2022.


Recent Posts

IF WE COULD . . .

By Kodi Myhre • December 23, 2025
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WORTH THE READ: STEF GOZA GUEST EDITORIAL

By Taylin Trafton • December 23, 2025
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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.