Backcountry flying is at risk of becoming a victim of its popularity according to an Oregon enthusiast who’s watched it change over the past 12 years. Chris McCrank told AvBrief as more and more pilots, many of them untrained in mountain and backcountry flying, crowd the remote strips, incidents of conflict with hikers and hunters and the few residents of the wilderness areas are increasing and could threaten access. “I just hope people get a little more respect for the treasures we have,” said McCrank, who bases his Aviat Husky at an Oregon airport and regularly uses it for getting into the mountains. “There needs to be a cultural shift—a set of unspoken common-courtesy and best-practice rules that are commonplace,” he said.
McCrank says he’s seen numerous examples of disrespectful and downright dangerous behaviors in the backcountry, including landing and taking off against the normal traffic flow and “strip bagging,” in which pilots try to land at as many strips as they can in a day. In one case, there was a prolonged and noisy aerobatics display in a heavily loaded plane with a passenger onboard at one of the most popular Idaho strips. He said such behavior raises legitimate liability concerns and misses the point of backcountry flying. “Environmental lobbies are putting pressure on leaders to shut down strips. It seems there are more fatal accidents in the backcountry each year,” he said. “Insurance could become unobtainable.”
The Recreational Aviation Foundation has taken action to address the issues with the creation of the Safety, Education and Etiquette Committee. “To promote safe, responsible, ethical and enjoyable recreational flying opportunities, the fortified committee will continue to develop initiatives to improve proficiency, and raise awareness of the unique challenges of recreational airstrips and their surroundings for pilots of all skill levels,” RAF said in a news release. McCrank said he’s hopeful the increased focus will reduce the incidence of bad behavior. “Backcountry flying is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done,” he said. “It’s ours to lose.”
Good luck, the ones that need the education the most are the least likely to recognize or accept their behavior as needing correction.
…I am amazed at the number who have no clue of their prop wash impact, (e.g. powering up to swing tail past open hangars) seem to have been raised in a Rodney Dangerfield boating family!
Activity-specific organizations are not going to put a halter on those who violate common activity specific etiquette.
Those that break the rules don’t bother with following type-specific organization news and recommendations anyway nor abide by common sense. Something more regulatory would be needed to rein in adverse actions by spoilers (but please not affect those already abiding decency).
This has been slowly brewing for decades but has reached a fever pitch in the past few years. Bagging strips is a blatant disregard for the concept of wilderness and should be avoided at all costs. The Idaho backcountry, in particular, takes the bulk of the abuse with pilots flying from all corners of America to “ fly the backcountry.” If an aircraft is the means of transport to arrive at your desired location to enjoy a particular pastime (fish, hunt, hike, etc.), this is the appropriate use of a wilderness airstrip. If you’re part of a gaggle of airplanes from elsewhere and you’re there to bag strips, not only are you part of the problem, you are the primary reason that this is becoming unsustainable. Simply put, pilots need to be more educated on what wilderness is, why we have it, and what type of activities are appropriate.
We must never forget (and it is very easy to do so) that we fly noisy, annoying machines.
Not all of us make noise 🙂
http://www.soargbsc.com/inststud/SOARING/index.htm
Sure a sailo plane can land at a back country strip, but it still needs a noisy annoying machine to get out
Spot On Chris
When I started flying the Idaho backcountry, people who flew in to these strips did so for a reason….what I mean by this is, they had a plan: they would camp one night or more, go hiking, use the strip as a trailhead for a hunting trip, go fishing, bring a telescope and spend the night for stargazing, or just relax for a couple of days with a hammock and some good books. The practical and safe thing is to arrive early in the morning, stay at least one night, and depart early. But now, especially with all the new STOL-type aircraft like the Husky, Zenith, Kitfox, CarbonCub, Rans, and more, a younger crowd is flocking here each summer. But they mostly just fly in, land, turn around, and leave—as popularized on YouTube. Now we have exponentially more noise and, as a result, I’ve lost my taste for Idaho backcountry flying. And guess what: we’ve also lost access to 4 of our strips, due to the USFS settling a lawsuit challenging them, brought by a coalition of groups that are sick and tired of the wilderness being turned into a noisy playground for pilots. The RAF gets this, as the article points out. So does the Idaho Aviation Association, for which I am its magazine editor and Facebook admin. Don’t be a bagger! Idahoans are beginning to feel a little like the SoCal surfers I grew up with…they are starting to feel like they want to say “Locals Only!” and that’s sad. It’s also true that pilots not used to flying in the mountains are crashing here more often. They might come in a little high and fast, and start a late go-around. Not realizing how density altitude robs their aircraft of performance, they hit the mountain or stall/spin. Want to help? Join the IAA or RAF and tell your flying friends it’s not cool to be a bagger. Have a reason for flying in. Do you drive all the way to Yosemite or Yellowstone, and then as soon as you get there, turn around and leave? Why not stay a while?