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 month’s guest editorial is by Carmine Mowbray, a pilot and the RAF’s Publicity Liaison.
WORTH THE READ: CARMINE MOWBRAY GUEST EDITORIAL
When the owner of the local FBO ordered fancy printing from our little Montana print shop and couldn’t pay his bill, he agreed to teach my husband and me how to get an airplane in the sky and back on the ground safely. We decided to buy an airplane and the CFI located a 1957 150-hp TriPacer. I was so ignorant, I was expecting a tri-motor. When 6928-Delta puttered in off the runway, I fell in love with our simple fabric, tricycle gear four-seat single.
It was paper chart, watch, and E6B days. You planned cross-county flights by penciling in your waypoints. Being surrounded by mountains, our CFI was a stickler about slow flight and preached, “Every landing is a short-field landing!” Training I appreciate today.
Near Montana’s Continental Divide, winters are cold but pretty clear. We could fly nearly all year. Avgas was 57¢ a gallon, and our banker let us park in his old hangar for free. As some do, we coveted that ever-faster, sleeker aircraft, and eventually owned and flew retractables, then a 300-hp Turbo T-Tail Lance for 16 years. It was great for business and long cross-countries with the four kids. But I felt the best way to see the West was around a hundred knots, a few hundred feet over the high ground. Where you see spray off a waterfall; mountain goats trekking the ledges; a small herd of elk grazing, or the circular ripples surrounding a moose in a pond. My heart was always back at places like Meadow Creek beneath the massive limestone terraces, where we had spent a soggy three-day Memorial Day weekend in a pup tent waiting for the rain to stop. “If this is so miserable, why am I enjoying it so much?” I’d asked myself.
RAF co-founder Chuck Jarecki stopped often at my Polson home for coffee and to share flying stories. He flew me to a few Montana work parties where I joined upbeat volunteers. Whether it was chopping sagebrush, clearing encroaching trees, throwing rocks, digging postholes or privy holes, we had fun. We were making something better.
Chuck asked me to edit some early letters and informational materials even before the quaint RAF logo showed up. Way back when John McKenna had a mustache. I sent a few dollars in to HQ. An orange shirt arrived in my mailbox with a handwritten thank you. The custom of writing handwritten notes, by the way, has continued throughout the RAF’s 22 years. More work parties, an organizational workshop, a few lengthy public lands meetings, and passionate folks started showing up in their orange shirts, all giving their time to support the preservation of backcountry aviation, and I found inspiration.
Now with the ideal aircraft for my purposes, an old 182 with the Sportsman STOL, pursuing that inspiration is up to me, my skills, and sound PIC judgment. And thanks to the RAF and its partners, there are plenty of beautiful places to go. There are disappointments when the weather or summer wildfire smoke shuts out a destination, but a constant is always the fine folks who share the mission.
The RAF has added purpose to my flying. I’ve made lifetime friends, and seen places I’d have missed if not for the RAF and its successes. It feels good to leave a place better than you found it, and know that these special places will endure for others to enjoy.
Often folks refer to the RAF mission as a cross-country flight, a journey from Point A to B. But I see it more as an orbit, since it should have no end. I see a long and productive future for the RAF. The RAF is constantly in motion, but remains close enough to Earth to recognize its beauty and preserve our special way to access it.
Carmine married and moved to Montana at age 19. The couple built a high-speed printing plant and published award-winning community newspapers. They raised four kids who have settled from Wyoming to the West Coast. Carmine served a term as a state senator after retiring from the publishing business. Carmine has written two well-received works of historical fiction.
“Like flying, it’s important to stay current as a writer. So to retain my editorial proficiency, I love my role as Publicity Liaison for the RAF,” she says, adding, “The subject matter is awesome!”
Submitted September 16, 2024.
Posted in Guest Editorial, News
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“The only people who can change something are the ones who really want to. And not everybody does.” When I read this, it took me back to the early days of the RAF. We saw a troubling trend taking place — the loss of airstrips across the country with no real organized voices to help put the brakes on the decline. And we really wanted to change that. Change demanded new ideas from us. Ideas that we assumed would initially be resisted. This defined our purpose. Good ideas come with the burden of effort and purpose. That separates those with a strong purpose from those without. We wanted to create an organization that would counteract the attrition of backcountry airstrips we saw taking place. We rolled up our sleeves and didn’t look back. Easy to say now that the RAF was lucky, but it was purpose that drove the organization in the early years; that really formed who we are today. A group of people with a purpose who knew we needed more people who thought like we did, and cared; people who took this idea called the RAF and added to it, keeping it unique but effective. We felt that most of the existing business models in the nonprofit space were not what we needed to be, and we pushed forward persistently with our thinking – thinking that required putting our own personal desires aside and pursuing ones that were for a greater good. You joined in. You, too, found purpose in the RAF and now look where we are. Nearly 15,000 of us are making the necessary sacrifices to make our voices heard, to create a better environment for the future of recreational aviation. We have more opportunities today because of you. Each one of us is important to continue the momentum we have gained. To determine what the RAF can do to further our mission to preserve, improve, and create airstrips for recreational access. To prioritize the many opportunities coming our way. It is about us, and what we are going to do with the time we have left on this earth. This organization will hopefully give you purpose now and in the future. Most importantly, I really hope it will give you as much sense of accomplishment as it has me. Thank you for what you continue to do. - John McKenna, RAF Chairman Submitted April 15, 2026
FEATURING: THE RAF DOG COLLECTION MODELED BY JOSIE & MUD Outfit your four-legged co-pilot for every adventure! From airplane rides to backcountry trails, this collection has everything they need to travel in comfort and style. Featuring two new additions—a stainless steel Orvis dog bowl and DawgMuffs—alongside RAF favorites like the collar, leash, and bandana. This collection includes items designed and created by RAF supporters. Shop the Dog Collection here. If you have questions, please email contact@theraf.org or call 406-582-1723. Your RAF Outfitter purchase is greatly appreciated and furthers the mission to preserve, improve, and create airstrips for recreational access. You can support the RAF mission all year by shopping at the RAF Outfitter online store. Products are being added regularly, and items are thoughtfully selected for durability and suitability for pilots, by pilots. We welcome photos of supporters using RAF gear! Please send your images to ewhite@theraf.org , and let us know if we have permission to post them on social media or our website. Submitted April 5, 2026.
Call To Action Volunteer
As you're planning your 2026 flying adventures, remember to review safety briefings for the airstrips you plan to visit. The RAF strongly recommends you review safety briefings and print a copy to have in your airplane - it's even required to fly into some airfields, like Ryan Field (2MT1). For those airfields, pilots flying in are required to review the briefing on an annual basis, and now is the perfect time to catch up on any changes to the runway/area that happened throughout the winter. You can find safety briefings on the RAF Airfield Guide . If an airfield in the Airfield Guide has a required briefing, the airfield listing will clearly indicate it and have a tab to view the briefing. Submitted March 30, 2026 Photo By Jim Stevenson
RAF Texas volunteers and Ranger Airfield Foundation volunteers helped begin restoration of the historic 1928 Ranger Airfield hangar on March 28. “A Wright biplane landed here at the field in 1911, and people have been using it ever since,” Ranger Airfield Foundation Founder Jared Calvert said. He noted that Amelia Earhart landed there in a Pitcairn Auto Gyro. Richard Bach, Pancho Barnes, and General Patton also landed at the field. It’s the oldest continuously used turf field in Texas.
