The initiative will open a network of backcountry and recreational airfields starting with seven key strips near Knoxville.
The Recreational Aviation Foundation has the renewal of closed, underused, and/or overloved airstrips in its DNA, opening up and maintaining hundreds of runways to aviation and public benefit use. So it made sense when the RAF launched its Expanding the Map initiative five years ago—and again on Tuesday at EAA AirVenture when it announced the debut of the Fly Rocky Top program.
Fly Rocky Top will establish a network of public and privately owned strips in eastern Tennessee that lie adjacent to or within some incredibly scenic and mountainous areas of the state. The first seven strips center around the Rockwood Municipal Airport (RKW) with both a paved runway and a new 2,400-foot turf runway (with tent camping and a welcoming pavilion planned) catering to pilots who want to enjoy this uniquely beautiful part of the United States. Other strips on the initial list include Smuggler’s Landing, McGraw’s Backyard (5TN4), Robbin’s Farm, and Tellico Plains (85TN). An additional outpost, Sawbriar, will be ready in August 2026. A seventh strip, Higdon Field, needs a little more work but was on track for reopening soon.
At the press conference, RAF President Bill McGlynn explained why such efforts are important, and not just to pilots, but to their families and their communities. “I always get the question, Bill, what is this? Why do you do this work? Why do you go and put all this effort into just saving some airstrips? Because it’s not about the airstrips. It’s about those experiences that you have on the airstrip. And it’s hard to explain to people. We have this old saying, ‘If I try to explain it to you, you can’t understand it.’”
However, revitalizing a municipal airport like Rockwood delivers an entree to the world of general aviation and what it contributes beyond transportation. Establishing a network of airstrips in a mountainous and/or remote region provides infrastructure usable by public benefit agencies and charitable and governmental organizations. That’s why the RAF has long partnered with entities like the U.S. Forest Service, and, in the case of Fly Rocky Top, the City of Rockwood. Local coordination has been led by Jeff Smith, Fly Rocky Top Team Leader.
The initial Fly Rocky Top airstrips have been entered into the RAF’s Airfield Guide. For more information on how you can access this new network, and support the RAF’s mission, visit the program’s pages on the RAF site.
