Long-Time Rec Pilot Becomes Organization's First Formal Leader

Following a nationwide search, the Board of Directors of the Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) have announced Carl Hicks, 58 of Gig Harbor Washington, as their first Executive Director. Truly a recreational pilot, Hicks received his private pilot license in August, 1975, and has several thousand hours of flight experience, remaining current ever since.

After retiring from his first career as a combat decorated, U.S. Army Airborne Ranger Officer, Carl (pictured) pursued a successful career in business, attaining the COO, CEO positions in diverse companies from start-up size to nationwide. Using aspects of his business experience on the non-profit side, he helped build the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) from a small little-known patient organization into one that is revered internationally with thousands of members around the world. Currently serving as the immediate past chair of the PHA board, Carl has extensive lobbying experience on Capitol Hill. A key vote required visiting 115 congressional offices in a 36 hour period which ended with the bill passing. Carl brings that same passion to the RAF.

“One of my fondest memories in aviation was that of taking a date for a picnic before the ink was dry on my private ticket to a beautiful little grass strip alongside Pleasant Hill Reservoir near my hometown of Mansfield, Ohio” says Carl. “It was a state-owned strip that now sadly, like so many others, has vanished forever from the charts. The Recreational Aviation Foundation exists solely to prevent this from occurring in the future, preserving, maintaining and creating safe recreational airfields, and providing recreational opportunities for generations to come. I am deeply honored to be selected and am deeply committed to this endeavor,” he said.

Carl is a longtime member of the AOPA, EAA, International Cessna 180 -185 Club, and an active volunteer in the Young Eagles with several hundred missions flown in his Cessna 180A. He holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from The Ohio State University.

FMI: www.theraf.org