Podcasts · Backcountry Aviation Radio
Fly Rocky Top with Jeff Smith and Matt Axley...your NEXT Backcountry Destination
· 1 h 21 min · S4 E8
Episode Fly Rocky Top with Jeff Smith and Matt Axley...your NEXT Backcountry Destination
Jeff Smith and Matt Axley join the show to talk about Fly Rocky Top — a brand-new backcountry airstrip network in East Tennessee, and the flagship project of the Recreational Aviation Foundation's "Expanding the Map" initiative, announced at Oshkosh this past July.
The network runs on a basecamp-and-outpost model. Rockwood Municipal Airport is the basecamp: a 5,000-foot paved runway paired with a brand-new 2,400-foot turf strip called Smuggler's Landing, a name with more local history behind it than you'd guess. From there, it branches into a growing list of outposts: a wingshooting strip, a spot along the Clinch River, a stick-and-rudder strip with a 2-degree slope, and one near some of the best fly-fishing in the region.
Jeff didn't start flying until he was 40, then built and flew a string of airplanes himself before helping stand up Rockwood Aviation to develop the airport. Matt is the RAF's Tennessee Ambassador and flies for a living outside his volunteer work building the network.
If you've ever wondered what it actually takes to stand up a backcountry network from nothing...the land deals, the landowner relationships, the volunteer hours nobody sees, this one's for you.
See the launch video HERE
Read more about Fly Rock Top HERE
Support the RAF HERE
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