There are a lot of airplanes that are alleged to be good for backcountry operations by pilots who want to seriously recreate. In doing research for this article, we spent an extended period speaking with the proprietors of Backcountry Aviation in Nampa, Idaho, Kasey Lindsay and Bob Hannah and with Jeff Welch, who gives type-specific utility/STOL training, primarily in the Husky, in Alpena, Michigan. All are highly experienced backcountry pilots.
We asked them for their thoughts on the attributes of a good STOL/backcountry machine. We combined their comments, along with reviews in this magazine of rugged utility airplanes, to come up with our list of as to what makes a good backcountry airplane.