Backcountry Flying

Explore the wilderness

Backcountry flying offers a unique facet of aviation to explore and opens countless new opportunities for adventure along the airways less traveled. Idaho is one of the best places for backcountry flying in the country. Interested in what take-off and landing in the backcountry entail? Check out this video of backcountry pilots in training.

Pilots who fly their own planes for the many rewards of the experience of backcountry flying, has exploded. Mods like big tires (some of them really big) and modded engines and kitplanes have become commonplace. The rise of personal backcountry flying has spread to the Lower 48 in a big way. The stereotype of the gruff old-timer bush pilot, which, like most clichés, exists because there’s a lot of truth to it, has been joined by a whole new demographic.

Many of today’s wilderness flyers are non-commercial pilots, often younger people, many of them professionals, with a love for extreme flying and the machines associated with it. It’s important to understand that this segment arose at the same time as the explosion of interest in other extreme sports, everything from ultra-marathoning to wilderness skiing, some of which were popularized by ESPN’s X Games.

Read more about Backcountry flying

Welcome to Flying Idaho Document by Idaho Aeronautics

Idaho Aviation Foundation

Idaho Aviations' Airstrip Network Resources for Idaho