Im sitting here and thinking about the stories I’ve been told about the old days in Mexico. You could just land on the beach and surf a wave or fish right in front of the plane. There was a different level of freedom. Recently I met a guy whose dad built a strip in a Central American country in their cow pasture just off the beach. They would land and takeoff from their remote ranch. It’s all grown in now but it makes you dream. Are these days gone? Is Alaska the last remaining hold out? Or is there some country south of Colombia that isn’t as concerned with narco traffic and allows the fun to continue? Argentina maybe?

Wish I could give you a good answer, but I can help narrow it down - definitely not Brazil.

Flown around the world

USA, zero question

The options vary with the undercarriage. Lots of wide open places to land on floats north of the 49th parallel so my vote is Canada, zero guestion

Alaska is the best Backcountry friendly country by far.
DENNY

I think backcountry flying, and GA in general, is getting more cost prohibitive, and more regulated in most countries of the world.

Third world countries are increasingly restricting or restructuring their aviation laws and the rules being made usually favor the one or two commercial air carriers in the country and not much provision is made for General aviation/ backcountry flying. The un-developing country of Papua New Guinea is a good example of this. Once a bush pilot's haven, regulations are becoming so stringent and fuel and maintenance so expensive that GA is about done there. I have friends that fly, or have tried to fly, in various African and South American counties that tell me a similar story. Many of these counties don't allow, and frankly don't know what to do with, experimental aviation and so that creates its own set of challenges.

In first world counties, I think the cost is the biggest factor that is hindering the growth of backcountry flying or GA in particular. Canada, for instance, is so large, but with such a small population spread across most of the country, there isn't the infrastructure or availability of maintenance that is the case south of the Boarder. While it's certainly a perfect place for backcountry flying, airports that used to have a large GA presence now have few if any GA aircraft based there. It seems that there are a lot less GA flying in Canada than in days past. The main reason I can see for this is cost. Inflation hits south of the boarder too but it is not as noticeable seeing there is a much higher population density in the states.

From my limited perspective, I'd say the US, particularly Alaska, is still the most Backcountry flying friendly country. I don't have any firsthand knowledge of places like New Zealand, Australia, or Europe. But I would have a hard time believing that the regulatory environments of those countries are freer or more backcountry aviation friendly than the US's.

The answer largely depends on one’s definition of ‘back country’ and ‘friendly’. For some, back country simply means not urban. Places with grass or gravel air strips, probably some camping infrastructure, and maybe even access to fuel. For others it means off airport operations, wilderness with little or no chance of encountering people that didn’t travel with you, and the only camping infrastructure will be what comes out of the back of your airplane.

‘Friendly’ might mean the presence of modest GA infrastructure like fuel or a location with internet or telephone access. To others it might mean spectacular and untouched natural beauty on mostly public lands with little or no restrictions on where or when you can operate.

Pick your favorite and enjoy. After experiencing a good portion of North America, my favorites happen to be north of 60 here in Canada.

Cheers.

Bob Breeden has been running around Patagonia/Argentina/Chile in a couple Cubs this Winter. Lot of places no airplane has been before.

https://www.flyingmag.com/new-partnership-expands-pilot-access-to-backcountry-flying-in-south-america/
https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=1031539092337970&id=100064456671329
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFBsA3ZsIyL/
https://www.instagram.com/bob_breeden/

Alaska is hard to beat, but as belloypilot points out, "infrastructure" like fuel can be a long ways between. But, there's a lot of country. Plan on a LOT of off airport if you want to get away from the madding crowds.....

Oh, yeah, and bring bug dope....plenty of it.

MTV

PB wrote:I think

I think we need more background on this avatar.

I went with a couple of guys and retrieved this 185 from PNG. It was originally an Australian royal mail plane, before being used for an air charter operation, then finally it was owned and operated by my friend, Missionary Jim Blume there in PNG for many years.

The Airplane was based in Wau, a remote WWII airstrip in the mountains and had to be disassembled and trucked to the coast for shipment back to the states.

It is now undergoing an extremely thorough annual inspection in Oshkosh, WI. That's the short of it. I may someday write a longer piece about the trip. It was an adventure to say the least.

For now, here are a few pictures.


This is the village and mission station in Wau, Picture taken from an old Machine gun emplacement.


We had lots of help removing the wings. Just had to watch that souvenirs didn't walk off. (None did)


All loaded up on the eight hour trip to Lae.


It did fit in the container, with 1 inch to spare.


Several Months later, after the trans-pacific crossing, the airplane was transported by van and trailer from California to OSH.

I'm betting that airframe is the keeper of some aviation tales.