The Palo Alto Airport Association is composed of friends of the airport in Palo Alto, California (ICAO code KPAO) including pilots, aircraft owners, airport-based business owners, flight clubs, flight schools, and others. As a 501(3)c nonprofit membership organization, donations to PAAA are tax deductible. The Association is a member organization of the California Pilots Association.

Officers

Bob Lenox, President

A pilot for over 50 years, having pumped gas at PAO as a high school student to pay for his flying lessons, he holds both ATP and CFI certificates. Bob is a founding member of the Palo Alto Airport Association, and is the AOPA’s Airport Support Network representative for PAO.

Wolfgang Polak, Secretary

Wolfgang Polak learned to fly in Palo Alto in 1976. Currently he is an instrument rated commercial pilot. Since 1994 he has owned and flown a Grumman Tiger based in Palo Alto. Wolfgang has been secretary of the Palo Alto Airport Association for the last 9 years.

Gerald Barker, Treasurer

 

A. Charlie Brown, Public Outreach

Charlie’s first GA flight was in a Beech TravelAir out of PAO as a young teen in 1977. He earned his private certificate in 2018 followed by an instrument rating, and usually now rents Cirrus SR22s. With his background in amateur radio, music, communication systems engineering, education, and psychology, Charlie promotes pilot involvement with the PAAA, contributing to our newsletters and bulletins, and developing and executing on a strategy for messaging to the wider public.

John Carlsen, Webmaster

Born in Palo Alto to parents who met while working for IBM in the Netherlands, John Carlsen became a pilot in 2014. About a year later, he joined the airport’s Civil Air Patrol squadron and became a liaison to the Palo Alto Airport Association before becoming its webmaster.