By JEANNE MacPHERSON
Flying media is full of mountain flying tips. Instead of recapping those here, I’d like to share the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) philosophy that we hope will lead to assured aviation access to some of our nation’s special places.
It’s important to remember that we share the wild country with a variety of users, many of whom are out there for quiet and solitude. There are ways to fly quietly.
For many airstrip owners, the provision of liability insurance coverage has been cost prohibitive. Recently, the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) took on the project of examining the availability of airstrip liability insurance and found that, as is the case with many aviation-related concerns, there were misunderstandings and unfounded prejudices impacting both the availability and pricing of such policies.
As a result of this work, RAF officials say they have identified a major insurance carrier, with extensive experience in insuring public airports, willing to develop a program offering low cost liability protection for publicly owned and privately owned airstrips both improved and unimproved.
SACRAMENTO — Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law Senate Bill 1072, which amends the California Recreational Use Statute (RUS) to include recreational aviation. Since the RUS now protects landowners from liability arising from recreational use of their property, airstrip owners will likely be more receptive to transient pilots. California becomes the 24th state to include such language in its laws.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s legislature voted June 6 to amend the State Recreational Use Statue (RUS) to include aviation activities. Governor Nikki Haley signed the law that will now provide South Carolina landowners a level of liability protection when allowing pilots to fly onto their property.
GREAT FALLS, Montana –Officials with the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) report that a recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals largely upholds the backcountry airstrip designations on Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
The Summer 2013 newsletter of the Recreational Aviation Foundation is now available. Included is an introduction of Steve “SJ” Johnson, founder of SuperCub.org, as the RAFs newest director; Utah pilot shelter completed; US Forest Service plans; recreation use statute successes; and more.
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has released “proposed planning directives for public review and comment. These directives are the key set of agency guidance documents that direct implementation of the 2012 planning rule.” This rule will replace the previous one written in the 1980s and will be the planning “bible” for the next 20-25 years. Sadly, the directives do not include any reference to recreational aviation or airstrips; therefore, the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) need your help to correct these critical omissions in the proposed Directives.
The Recreational Aviation Foundation has posted its Winter 2013 newsletter to its website.
The 89th General Assembly of Arkansas recently passed House Bill 1020, which protects private airstrip owners throughout Arkansas from litigation from non-commercial aviation activity on their land.
By CONNIE SUE WHITE
When Civil Air Patrol Seminole Composite Squadron Deputy Commander Kenny Eads asked a group of five cadets to volunteer for a unique mission, it caught on like wildfire. The assignment: build the first-ever Fire Hub on the SUN ’n FUN campgrounds.
Eads explained to the young men that it would the be the first of 50 Fire Hubs planned across the United States as part of the Recreational Aviation Foundation’s latest fund-raising initiative [Read more…]