WORTH THE READ: STEVE JOHNSON GUEST EDITORIAL

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 Steve Johnson,  former RAF Director, Supercub.org founder, and Gold Seal CFI/MEI.

It Can't Happen If There is No Place to Land


Teaching backcountry flying means watching people have the same moment. We’ve covered all the basics and then they make their first real backcountry landing, shut down, and step out of the plane. They look around and something changes in their demeanor. Hard to describe, yet easy to recognize. It happens almost EVERY time.


It can’t happen if there is no place to land.


That seems obvious, but it’s easy to lose sight of when you are focused on all the other things that go into actually flying into these places. The access starts to feel like a given. Land, take a selfie, go home. What often stays hidden is the work that makes any of it possible.


That’s what the RAF does.


Nobody’s writing campfire stories about public comment periods and land management negotiations. Work parties where volunteers spend a weekend mowing and fixing things up instead of flying. Paperwork and negotiation that keeps a strip open with whatever agencies are involved. Convincing landowners to give us access to their slice

of heaven. It’s the kind of work that’s easy to take for granted right up until it’s gone.


Serving as a RAF director gave me a front-row seat to how much of that work goes on quietly - and how genuinely hard it can be. Federal land management processes are slow and technical. You need people paying attention and showing up consistently. The people who do this work don’t just attend meetings, they build relationships with land

managers over years, cultivate trust inside agencies that could just as easily say no, and get strips reopened that most people had written off.


What keeps drawing pilots to this community certainly isn’t policy work, or really even flying for that matter. It’s the people. The backcountry flying community has a unique character - one where the often unwritten rules are not spelled out by the FAA. Experienced pilots mentoring less experienced ones, a shared sense of responsibility for the places we use, and a culture where good stewardship isn’t just a nice idea.


The RAF is the organizational version of that culture. It gives pilots a way to channel the love of these places into something that actually protects them. Worth being part of, whether that means being actively engaged, showing up to a work party, or simply supporting the mission financially so the people doing the work can keep it going.


It can’t happen if there is no place to land. The RAF is why it still does.

Steve Johnson is a Gold Seal CFII/MEI, seaplane, tailwheel, and backcountry flight instructor. He founded and operates SuperCub.Org, a long-running online community for Super Cub and backcountry aviation enthusiasts. Steve and his wife Laura, live in Bentonville, Arkansas

Submitted May 19, 2026

Posted in Guest Editorial, News

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