Hey, all. I've been trying to find information on aircraft access to BLM land in California but there is generally stunned silence on the other end of the phone whenever I call a district office. I haven't been able to find any mention of aircraft in the California BLM's online documents and this seems to be a new issue for some of the district offices or at least the people who answer the phones.

Does anyone have any experience with the BLM in California or know of any backcountry BLM airstrips available for public use? I haven't tried flying into BLM land yet but I'm anxious to get out there once the storm of the apocolypse is over. I want to do some long range target shooting which means BLM land.

Cheers

I use BLM lands a lot (helicopter on trailer behind full-time RV). In general, the agency does not care if you operate aircraft off their lands in NV UT AZ NM OR. Being federal, the CA lands are likely to be no different.

I cannot make a claim to have tested this in CA. I have yet to get a clear answer from CA offices, because I tend to avoid CA in general. When I did go in to the Imperial Valley office to ask, I got a very hostile response from the regional manager, who believed without being able to cite a regulation that aircraft were generally prohibited. He would not help find such a regulation, and became openly confrontational when asked for the citation. And as you know, it's real hard to prove a negative, so I don't have a way to look for the LACK of a regulation.

Other BLM offices (notably Yuma, AZ) tell me this guy is famous for knee-jerk regulatory inventions like this. But I gave up on CA, having lots of other fun things to do.

Note that BLM sometimes passes internal regulations prohibiting aircraft, notably in the new National Monuments of UT, some of the first such federal areas administered by BLM instead of NPS (who universally prohibit aircraft without any relief whatsoever). BLM does that by generating a Resource Management document and specifying no aircraft on that particular Nat'l Monument. Exit much of BLM/UT as aircraft operating area, effective on various dates 2003-2004. (But BLM's Canyon Rim Recreation Area out by Moab is WIDE OPEN, they don't care a hoot!)

Capricious enforcement of federal regulations is rampant. Example: the Code of Federal Regulations Ch 48 (?) specifically allows aircraft to land at Cottonwood Airstrip on the (AZ) shore of Lake Mojave. But the Chief Pilot for Lake Mead Nat'l Recreation Area, a redneck kneejerk anti-freedom type, considers it his duty to arrest anybody landing on the strip because they have closed it. Without changing the federal regulation specifying that it is a usable airport.

As we say in paragliding & soaring, 'tis more blessed to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. And in MOST cases nobody will even know you're landing in areas they consider off limits. But there ARE aerial patrols daily in many heavy-public-use jurisdictions, not to mention TSA satellite monitoring. And finding out whether it's OK is a recurring pain in the butt when I'm actually out there operating.

Suggestion: find out which regional office controls the areas you're interested in. Network around in their phone directory until you find their chief pilot. HE does the aerial enforcement patrols; HE will be able to tell you what's OK.

Let me know your findings, I'd like to figure out CA also.

Dave
masmesa @ aol . com

Thanks for the great post, Dave. I'll give them another call on Monday and let you all know what I find out, or don't find out. Flying in California can sometimes be like flying in Europe. Every government entitiy wants to enact its own laws, superceding ones be damned.

Are there any lawyers in the group? We won't lynch you I promise. As we get into the discussion of airstrip and land closures to aircraft, it would probably help to hear from the legal community. Has anyone ever heard of AOPA addressing the issure of BLM land closures? As we have seen, any government body that stands unopposed will eventually enact so many regulations that the system becomes unusable. It's their natural state.

Cheers

Pa 42 if you ever get yo the northeast,i want to see that rv and the robinson in tow,you can camp out at my strip,or at the house.Maine is beautiful in the fall as we have tons of hardwoods.Greenville seplane fly in would be good time to come.