Emailing - New Mexico Pilots Association

Activities During Gila Regional Flying, Sept 4-6. 2026

We have planned at a couple activities planned during the Gila Regional Fly-in at Reserve, September 4-6, 2026.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Reserve Pilots Lounge Friday, Sept 4, 11am

Backcountry Flying Clinic at the Reserve Pilots Lounge Friday, Sept 4, 7-9pm

Fun Flying Task Friday Sept 4 through Saturday September 5

Hike to Reserve Natural Bridge Saturday, Sept 5, 1pm-4pm

The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and the Backcountry Flying Clinic are on the NMPA calendar. Go there for details.

Flying Task

A fun flying task will be held over the Gila Regional Fly-in at Reserve Airport (T16), this Labor Day weekend. This will be the 6th time we have conducted this task. There is no fee for this activity. No need to register for this activity either, just add your name, passengers, airports overflown on the form that will be under the shade structure at the Reserve Airport. Any questions, contact jeff_trike@nmpilots.org The details are as follows:

Contest starts Friday morning and ends Saturday at dinner time.

For each of the Gila Area Airstrips you overfly (Reserve, Jewett Mesa, Negrito, Rainy Mesa, Beaverhead, MeOwn, Sacaton, Glenwood, Double Circle, Luna) you get one entry to a raffle.

New Airstrip Luna Airstrip
Latitude N 33 deg 50' 0436" 33.834544
Longitude W 108 deg 55' 47.78" -108.929936

Hint, grab a few on your flight into Reserve on Friday morning.

Overflight is all that is needed. Landing is not required.

Task completion is based the honor code, no photo or GPS verification needed. If you can't trust a pilot, who can you trust.

Any passengers (including dogs) on the flight can separately enter the raffle.

Winners will be chosen at random. The more airstrips you overfly, the better your odds. Grand Prize is your choice of an item from the NMPA apparel collection.

Reserve Natural Bridge Hike

The Reserve Natural Bridge spans a small canyon that merges with the San Francisco River, upstream of Reserve, NM.

Coordinates for the bridge are:
Latitude 33.7391

Longitude -108.775

We will gather after lunch at the the Reserve Airport on Saturday (approx 1pm) and shuttle down to the trial head. If we don't have a dedicated vehicle, we'll have someone pick us up around 4pm and bring shuttle us back to the Airport.

We should be able to drive within 0.66 miles of the Natural Bridge. We will hike down the arroyo to the Natural Bridge and hang out for an hour or so. There are some nice swimming holes on the San Francisco River so dress appropriately and bring a towel, water and a snack.

I think we are ok on ground transportation, but if you can help send an email to: jeff_trike@nmpilots.org

Here is a link to a video about the Reserve Natural Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4IvUM00V4w

Below is are maps and some photos of the Ramah Natural Bridge.

-- Jeff Gilkey, NMPA