This website is almost legal to buy booze! December 24th, 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of BackcountryPilot.org.

We almost pre-date Youtube with a launch date of Christmas Eve 2004. I discovered aviation forums in 2002 while studying for my Private certificate, and a software developer I figured it would be easy to start my own to celebrate a topic for which no site really existed at the time: bush flying.

Here's a Wayback Machine snapshot from some time in mid-2005:


Over the next 10 years it was like magic happening. Fly-ins, videos, and what seemed like the advent of internet pilot camaraderie. The excitement of being inside a small bubble of internet pilots super stoked on bush flying, and feeling like we were a small group before the scene changed again and everyone became Internet TV show hosts—it was really fun.

Many of you have been here since the start. Many more have come and gone, mainly in part to the advent of social media and its integration into society and the mainstream. In terms of growth, BCP has definitely felt the pressure of big social media. Engagement has waned to a plateau where we find ourselves today. I'm not sure it's necessarily a bad thing. This place has always felt better as a small dive bar type of joint. Real characters, the crustier the better. You don't "casually" experience BCP as part of a mixed feed—you come here deliberately and participate.

Chances are, if you've Googled a flying topic you've probably seen BCP in the search results more often than not. So we remain relevant as long as you're all discussing Skywagons or debating the most toxic 100LL replacements. I'm constantly surprised by what y own Google searches turn up here, stuff I missed the first time around or have long forgotten.

As a labor of love, this site was never quite finished but always a happening place to make pilot friends who share the same love for backcountry/bush flying. I've made good, lifelong friends here.

Our role in this Internet landscape seems to have shifted to more of an archive of information rather than social, which I am ok with.

To monetize and pay the bills for hosting and my own scarce time, I've tried to sell ads only to a small pool of relevant brands so you don't feel too heavily marketed to—we don't track you or remarket stuff to you. And the donations have been a critical resource for keeping the site alive. I'm forever grateful to all who have supported it, not just for money but for the moral support.

Thanks to all who have contributed here and made this community what it has become over the last 20 years. It is full of cherished memories and some of the most valuable experiences of my life, lived alongside many of you.

November 2005, first airplane:

Pretty dang cool. The early part of the 2000s is pretty nostalgic for me, I love seeing this.

How times have changed. I sure wish I would have had the means and the maturity to get licensed back then, I didn't have my act together at that point.

Best site in aviation by far, when are you getting a 170 again

I've sure enjoyed and learned from the forum and think I've been here pretty close to the beginning. I'm also very thankful that I experienced McCall Idaho and the Frank Church starting in the summer of 1987 beginning with my PA12 and shortly later the 180.

BCP had been around for about a decade when I discovered it. I was about to get out of flying. I thought I had dabbled in all the variations of aviation I was interested in dabbling in. I had owned and flown fast planes, slow planes and an aerobatic mount over the years. All were fun, but none of the point A to point B flying, or making weird blobs of smoke in the sky really appealed to me any more. BCP introduced me to the idea of backcountry flying and the reality of airplane camping. Cool! Within a year I had a Maule and was testing the waters. I've had the Maule for just over a decade now and there are still some places I want to visit, but not many. This website doesn't provide as much backcountry candy as it used to, so I find I visit less and less often. Everything and everyone changes over time. Such is the way of the world. I still support this website, but it's mostly for the nostalgic value it has for me rather than my current level of engagement. I would like to see more backcountry trip reports with pictures and stories of adventure off the beaten path, but that may not be where the membership as a whole is headed. I'm also aging up and will need to find more pedestrian amusement at some point. Sigh. Still, it's been a good run and I have gotten an extra decade of flying because of the hook this site set in me. That ain't bad!

twilight of piloting

Zane,

Thanks for all the hard work over the years. Also, thank you to everyone who has contributed. So much great info for all to benefit from.

Kurt

Zane keeping this site robust and operating for 20 years is an accomplishment! This site and SC.org have been a huge benefit to me when I got back into flying and also as a source of knowledge for those of us not around a big community, just what the web was for. I find that this is so much better to participate in than social media. It is pretty easy to figure out who knows what they are talking about and also there are not the totally random, posts or the most generic interests. That drives me insane with photography groups in social media. You have kept some guard rails up on how you want your site to be and that is largely respected. This 'virtual campfire" has given us a pretty good idea of who we really would like to sit around a campfire with and shoot the breeze. How cool is that? Also I'm certain that knowledge shared here through your forum has made many of us better and safer pilots. I'm not sure how you can put a price on that but keep it in mind for your utility.

As far as that goes it wouldn't bother me a bit to see more advertising, that helps pay the bills and supports content. However your living room and your rules!

The only downside is if all of this is causing people to buy a Maule. That should be closely examined.

Thanks again for all your efforts!
Joe

Congrats Zane,


20 years flies by - so to speak. Cool to read the full story of how it all got started too. I think the site has been a little more active lately. I wasn't here back in it's heyday but it still a good place to ask a question. I have learned a lot from the members on this site and appreciate the mostly good vibes here (occasional controversial threads excluded).


Josh

As a hay-day member from back in the day, I must say Zane has been and continues to be the best forum host/owner and overall good dude there is in the backcountry flying game. Thanks for keeping this site going, Zane!

My favorite aviation place on the web... thanks for all the work! Hope to see it continue for another 20 years.

Merry Christmas, all! Thanks for the kind words. At some point I want to make a “highlights of BCP” report from memorable events over the years. The Johnson Creek fly-ins, the missing guy, members gone west.

A lot has occurred here over 20 years. A lot of it is squirreled away in the database, like a box of family photo prints.

Merry Christmas all, and Zane! Thanks so much for this site. Some days I'm sure it's like herding cats. But im thankful for the friends I've made here and the opportunities it has afforded me. I know ow I'm not around here as much these days as I'm pretty busy all summer in the ag world. But I sure enjoy coming back in the fall and diving in again!
Thanks again. And let's make it another 20 years!

Congratulations on 20 years Zane! This site has meant a lot to me over the years. It's been inspirational and is a big part of the reason I got into tailwheel flying, which has been a life changer. Keep up the good work and let me know whenever you get back to Oregon and we'll go for a ride!

Thanks a ton for building and maintaining BCP Zane! I've been here since just about the beginning of it, and it has changed a lot. I loved the community feel of it in the early days.

I have made several lifelong friends who I connect with often through the BCP community.

It sure has been fun!

Backcountry Pilots has been a part of my flying since I took my first lesson ten years ago. I've been on here more time than I should have.
I have learnt heaps, been inspired to go to many amazing strips and met some real friends. It is one of the few good places on the intergoogle web. The flying community is amazing in general, and this is the best of it IMNSHO. Been using Supercubs.org more recently as I just bought a PA18 experimental. That has a similar vibe but a bit more technical. Zane deserves a community medal, and I wish it made him more $$ - he deserves it. Donate if you have not.

Thank you so much Zane!

Over the years, BCP has been a great source of information, education, community, and sometimes a wonderful escape from the everyday grind

I have been with you for a good many years and I find that this is still the only aviation website I really go to. You have done a great job over the years and I do still want to stop in and say Hi to you sometime.

Thanks for all you do.

Shane

I am a brand new out of the wrapper member here but I have been perusing the forum here for years without ever joining. I am still in the beginning stages of my tail wheel journey but I have founds lots of useful info and discussions here while lurking in the wings over the years. I too wish there were more active threads with debriefs and associated pics/video to look at but as someone who rarely tries to capture the moment in my own life via camera, I can't blame others for not doing so either.

I look forward to the future of this forum and I hope it's still around and active in another 20 years hopefully with some posts and traffic of my own to add to the mix. Now I just need to make a decision between a 170B and a 180 lol.

Time flys!

Best aviation forum IMO

Congrats Zane. It's a great site and it's sure one of the reasons I caught the bug.