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.
