Backcountry Aviation Radio

Josh Richling has one of the best seats in competition STOL flying - he's the crew chief behind Steve Henry's Wild West Aircraft Highlander XL builds, the machine that's put up some of the shortest takeoff numbers in the sport. He's also the guy running Tundra Tailwheels day-to-day since Steve Henry took over the company from founder Jim Pekola in 2024, and on top of that, he freelances for FLYING Magazine covering the National STOL Series. So he builds the airplane, builds the gear, and writes the story - a rare view from all three sides of the fence.
We get into what actually makes a competition STOL airplane fast (weight, prop, tires, tuning - not just headline numbers), the design philosophy behind Tundra's full-castering, brake-steered tailwheel, and how a career-ending injury from his time as a firefighter/paramedic ended up pointing him toward aviation fabrication. Oh - and he took this call from a riverbank in the Idaho backcountry, fishing rod in hand, and hijacked the format a little. You'll hear it.
Tundra Tailwheels website
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Ray and Melisa Fowler run Adventure Flying LLC, a CubCrafters Certified Sales Center covering the mid-Atlantic — Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Both are Delta A320 Captains, and both carry warbird résumés that go well beyond the airline job: Melisa is type-rated in the DC-3, C-47, and B-17, with stick time in the back seat of a P-51. Ray is a retired Air National Guard Lieutenant Colonel, an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner, and Director of Flight Ops for the Liberty Foundation — including flying a P-40N on a live .50-cal mission documented on film this past July.
We get into how Ray's start in warbirds was scrappier than his résumé suggests — as a teenager, he washed airplanes just to earn rides in the back seat of a Japanese "Kate" torpedo bomber replica, one of the airframes built for Tora! Tora! Tora!Years later, when the owner had a medical issue, Ray ended up training under a WWII-era instructor and soloing that same airplane himself.
There's also a smaller-world moment neither of us expected: one of the Fowlers cut their teeth instructing local kids in a J-3 Cub through a youth aviation program Ron Alexander started at Peach State — the same program that lives on today as RAYAP, right at my own home strip.
And then there's the backcountry chapter, which started almost by accident — a favor flying a Carbon Cub out to Utah that turned into an annual pilgrimage, then a CubCrafters dealership, then a full lifestyle. Their take on what backcountry flying feels like, even after a career full of warbirds and fighter jets, is one of the best lines to come out of any episode so far.
If you've ever wondered what it looks like to go from fighter jets and airline flying to grass strips and gravel bars, this one's for you.
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CC Pocock has spent over two decades flying in some of the most remote, unimproved terrain in the world, and now runs a one-man flight school in the Nevada desert that's trained more than 950 pilots. He's the author of Bush and Mountain Flying, now in its third edition, and just launched his own podcast and YouTube channel, Bush Air.
We get into the real distinction between "bush flying" and "backcountry flying" — a line most pilots blur — and where CC thinks formal flight training falls short when it comes to building genuine off-airport skill. We also cover the accident patterns he sees repeat in the backcountry (most never get reported), the case for a heavily modified legacy airplane over a brand-new build, and what's coming next on Bush Air as he ramps up guest interviews.
If you're building real off-airport skill — not just landing on grass — this one's worth the listen.
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Darin Hart runs American Legend Aircraft in Sulphur Springs, Texas — the shop keeping the Piper Cub lineage alive, from a stripped-down J3 to the Rotax 916-powered Nomad. We get into how the Nomad came to be (including the Trent Palmer connection that helped put it on the map), the story behind the name, and a full breakdown of the build-assist model versus buying a kit.
We also dig into MOSAIC — what the new certification standard actually means for manufacturers, the scale of investment it takes to get an aircraft through compliance, and why Darin thinks it's going to reshape the light-sport industry faster than most builders expect. Along the way: Nomad vs. MOAC performance trade-offs, why even Cub purists end up wanting a G3X and autopilot, and what it's like building airplanes from raw material up, in-house, at the factory.
If you've ever wondered what goes into the modern adventure-Cub category — or what MOSAIC is actually going to change — this one's for you.
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Erin and Paul flew their Bearhawk 5 named "Tina" to Peach State Aerodrome to drop in and record an episode! It was epic, and unfortunately I had to edit out the multiple fly-bys that interrupted the recording...haha.  But in this episode we talk about getting into flying, building an airplane from scratch (proudly with Bearhawk's builder assist program), and flying it to all 50 states.  This one was a lot of laughs and is a fun listen. 
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