Your Airports staff hopes you have been enjoying this enviable spring and summer weather we seem to take for granted living in the Bay Area. There for a while last spring I wasn't sure it would ever stop raining, and the additional IFR weather sure slowed down flight operations at our three airports, but I guess it was a good thing as the extra rain filled up the reservoirs so we don't have to worry about drought conditions this fall. And the added silver lining is that all that snowpack runoff gives our local pilots more reasons to head out to all those great fishing spots and campgrounds near the Sierra range's many GA airports to enjoy the scenery and benefits of all that additional water...I hear the falls at Yosemite are still going strong! Many of you are either already enroute or are planning on attending a variety of aviation events this summer including local airshows, the EAA's big fly-in at Oshkosh or you are just out for a local trip to your favorite $100 hamburger airport restaurant. Please fly safely and watch out for all of that heat related density altitude and additional convective activity.

Its been a very busy spring and summer for our staff and airports. Ken Betts joined our staff in February as our new Noise Program Manager and Liliana Valle is our new Palo Alto Airport Supervisor. Congratulations to both of these great new team members, and we hope you get a chance to meet them. We are also currently in the process of creating a new Airport Operations Worker position at our South County airport to coincide with the opening of our hangar project later this fall. The South County Airport Pilots Association joined forces with the Wings of History to host their first combined airport day and fly-in at E16 on May 14th. As we have done in the past at RHV and PAO, we added a Tenant Appreciation tri-tip BBQ dinner the day before the fly-in to say thanks to our South County Airport users. And don't forget to save the following dates for the other two Airport Day events...PAO on September 11th (hosted by the Palo Alto Airport Association), and RHV on September 24th (hosted by the Reid-Hillview Airport Association).

We've received grant funding from the FAA for a number of airport projects and have started engineering and construction work on several projects that should be completed this summer or fall. See the updates on each airport for more details. We are very excited about the opportunity to make some much needed improvements at our three airports, and although the construction may pose some temporary inconveniences, we hope you notice and appreciate the changes. We always look forward to your feedback and ideas, so the next time you are at our terminal buildings, stop by the office to let us know how we're doing, or fill out a comment card at one of our newly installed suggestion boxes.

      Happy Landings!   Carl

Introducing...

Palo Alto Airport welcomes Liliana Valle as its newest team member! As the Operations Supervisor, Liliana will oversee the daily operations, ensuring compliance with all laws and regulations. With more than five years of experience in the aviation industry, Liliana worked in Los Angeles County for general aviation airports before coming to Palo Alto.

Liliana says her passion for the aviation industry developed as she realized what a great opportunity it was for her to develop her abilities. She says she has always loved flying and is working on completing her pilot's license.

View or download the Print Version of our Summer 2005 newsletter.