in the challenging environment so they too can live out their wildest adventures safely. MacNichol's mountain canyon training follows a structured, building-block approach. Through two- and four-day courses, pilots receive four to 12 hours of flight training, in addition to extensive ground school. MacNichol prefers to conduct training in the pilot's own aircraft, and she recommends participants have at least 50 hours of flight time in their aircraft. Much of the early training for takeoffs and landings is completed at backcountry strips outside the wilderness, but the course includes training at publicuse wilderness strips inside the protected areas. The two-day course equips pilots with the fundamental tools for flying in the mountain canyon environment-and a confidence boost, as I discovered during a modified version of the class in the AOPA Sweepstakes Super Cub. CANYON SPEED/CONFIGURATION Stalls and slow flight-yes, there's a practical purpose for these maneuvers beyond preparing for a checkride. Even though pilots don't operate in canyons just above stall speed, flying in slow flight with the stall horn on (or near the buffet if the aircraft doesn't have a stall indicator) and stalling the airplane in different configurations allows pilots to become intimately familiar with how their aircraft performs before flying in this RESOURCES FOR FLYING IN IDAHO Lori MacNichol encourages pilots who come to McCall Mountain Canyon Flying Seminars or who plan to fly in Idaho to get three resources: 1. Fly Idaho! book 2. Idaho Airports free app or the Idaho Airport Facility Directory 3. Idaho Aeronautical Chart provided by the Idaho Aviation Association www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 77http://www.aopa.org/pilot