[Removed by user]

Nice vid!

Bravo!!

Nice work, love the music. My wife even watched it all the way through!

Well that didn't look fun at all!

Not to be a downer, but is this the reason for the UBCP PSA about leaving ruts at Mineral Canyon?

While its great to be out in the canyons having fun, there really wasnt a need to put ruts in the strip, which did happen that weekend. I was there later and had no problem landing long and taking off on the dry part of the runway, so its a shame that this had to happen.

I and many other pilots are members of the RAF, the UBCP Association, and also the AZ Pilots Association, and we strive every day to cooperate and work closely with the US Forest Service and the BLM to help maintain, fix up, and self-police the various strips on their land. We also help educate backcountry pilots to the ettiquette of using these public lands.

By and large its worked well. Im sure the pilots who put the ruts in the runway didnt do it maliciously.... but what we need is for EVERYONE to just think a bit about how their actions will be perceived. Only a few instances like these can give all of us, who put so much time and effort into forging these positive images and relationships, a bad name.

The group I was flying with is as conscientious as any you will find in the backcountry. As soon as our lead pilot realized it was wetter than it looked in the middle, that information was communicated to the rest of the flight and we conducted ourselves accordingly. I assure you nobody left any ruts on purpose, especially in the landing area.

I appreciate the work that many have done to open and preserve access to these types of strips. I took the video down out of respect for those people and their efforts. I love flying in the backcountry, and don't want to do anything to jeopardize our rights to fly there. That said, the variable conditions we encountered are a part of backcountry flying. Because of this discussion, I will be even more aware of muddy spots and avoiding ruts the next time I'm down there. I hope we can all walk away with that as a positive result of this exchange, without the need for any finger-pointing or recriminations.

Cheers.

ruts ANYWHERE suck.