Three Mojave Air & Space Port Directors seats open in November election

Diane Barney.

Diane Barney.

Three seats on the Mojave Air & Space Port Board of Directors will be on the Nov. 5 ballot. There are seven candidates running, three incumbents, including: Robert Morgan, Chuck Coleman and Diane Barney.

Jim Crocoll, Andrew Parker, Cathy Hansen and Jeremy Woods will be on the ballot, as well. Parker lives in California City and Woods is an associate professor at Bakersfield College and is very new to Mojave.

Jim Crocoll is a life-long resident of Mojave. Morgan, Coleman, Barney and myself all have lived and worked in Mojave for many years.

Yes, I have decided to run for the airport board again. I served on the East Kern Airport district Board and was there when the name was changed to Mojave Air & Space Port. Wow! I have witnessed many changes and fabulous growth at the greatest airport in the world!

So happy that the name "Rutan Field" was added before our good friend Dick Rutan passed away. It was so important to recognize both Burt and Dick Rutan, as they made this airport known around the world. Experimental aircraft dreamers from all over the United States came to Mojave to work for and with Burt Rutan.

Both brothers were inspirational to people all over the world and the story of Voyager aircraft flying around the world, non-stop and unrefueled in 1986 is still touching hearts and stirring emotions inside of future pilots, and aircraft designers.

I love driving past the General Aviation hangars and seeing how the Rutan experimental imagination and inspiration lives on here!

I remember how EKAD General Manager, Dan Sabovich first encouraged me to run for the airport board back in the 1990s.

I still feel the same way when I drive onto this air field. My head fills with memories of the air races that were held from 1969 to 1979, memories of all the U.S. Marines that were stationed here during World War II, memories of watching the Voyager aircraft being built in Hangar #77, the runway extensions and new hangars being built for General Electric, Canadair Challenger, Aerotest and later Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch. It always makes me smile when I think of how many jobs were created here and how many new friends my husband, Al, and I made over the years.

A couple of our good friends are Diane Barney and Jim Crocoll. Let me tell you a little about each of them.

Al Hansen.

I found this photo and couldn't believe how young Jimmy Balentine and I looked when Dan was swearing us in for the board seats as the attorney for the district, Wayne Lemieux looked on. Made me laugh to see this photo again! Where did the time go?

Diane Barney

Diane J. Barney Jr., is a local airline pilot and engineer currently working for Sky West and is very close to becoming Captain. Currently, she is flying as Co-pilot.

She owns several aircraft, including: a Grumman Tiger, J-3 Piper Cub, and a Boeing Stearman.

Originally from Albany, New York, she caught the aerospace bug at 12 years old after her first General Aviation flight in an Aeronca Champ.

She earned her B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University in 2009 and she received her commission from the Boilermaker AFROTC Detachment 220 the same year.

During her six years of active duty service in the U.S. Air Force, she worked in operational flight test on B-1Bs, RQ-4s and U-2s.

Since arriving in Mojave in 2015, she has worked at Scaled Composites, The Spaceship Company, Empirical Systems Aerospace and was a contractor for NASA on the X-57 Maxwell, all-electric aircraft.

She has served on the Mojave Air & Space Port Board of Directors since 2020 and wants to continue to serve the spaceport and community of Mojave. She considers the aviation community in East Kern as family and enjoys the camaraderie it offers.

I came across this photo of Diane, Mike Melvill and me at the June 19, 2021 Plane Crazy Saturday. Mike flew his Long EZ in for display. It was wonderful to see him!

Mike said, "In 2003, I flew the first ever flight of what is now called SpaceShipOne. This was a glide flight, there was no rocket motor installed yet, and I was carried up to almost 50,000 feet hanging under the belly of the White Knight mother ship. The copilot of the WK, pulled a lever, and dropped SpaceShipOne off with me in the pilot's seat, and I flew a full test card as I descended rapidly as a glider to the runway on the Mojave airport. We made a total 17 flights in SpaceShipOne, ten as a non-powered glider and 6 flights running a rocket motor we had developed ourselves. There were 3 pilots who flew SS1, I was the pilot on 10 of these test flights, including two flights that went above 100 KM. I flew the first privately funded flight to space on 21 June 2004."

Jim Crocoll

Debbie Crocoll.

Jim Crocoll.

In a conversation with Jim, he said, "I grew up in Mojave, remember watching the Mojave Air Races every year as a kid. My sister and I used to count the airplanes as they raced through the course because my uncle gave us a nickel for every plane we counted – turned out to be a nice chunk of change at the end of each day, especially for a kid!"

He attended school K through 12, in Mojave and graduated Mojave High School in 1983 and attended Antelope Valley College (AVC) taking general education and engineering prep classes. While attending AVC he learned a rewarding trade in woodworking, fabricating cabinets and furniture for a small business owned by my high school woodworking mentor.

Although not part of the team he fondly remember the days leading up to the historic non-stop, unrefueled flight around the world by the Voyager aircraft.

He attended Cal Poly Pomona where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He would return home to Mojave during the summers and worked as an intern for GE Aviation at Mojave Airport and Edwards AFB.

The first 18 years of his career (starting in 1989) were at Mojave Airport where he was employed by GE Aircraft Engines and Scaled Composites. He was initially thrown into the world of design, which is where he spent the majority of his career.

Years ago, Phil Schultz, Chief Test Pilot at GE during the flight test work for the GE-90 engine gave this photo to me that shows a landing at Mojave. It also shows how enormous that GE 90 engine was!

Crocoll said, "GE had a 747 flying test bed (FTB) here in Mojave and they were, at the time, the only large engine manufacturer who performed their own flight testing."

"Other manufactures (Rolls Royce & Pratt & Whitney) relied on the airframers for flight test."

The GE-90 engine was so large that it was delivered to Mojave in the Heavy Lift AN-124! The Antonov loomed over the buildings at the Mojave Airport on Sept. 5, 2002 when it delivered the GE-90-115B engine for installation on the GE 747 engine testbed aircraft.

The GE-90 engine was used on the Boeing 777 and today there are 777s in the Mojave boneyard. Hard to believe they are being scraped already!

I believe that my proven record in community leadership and previous 15+ years of service on the Board of Directors at Mojave Air & Space Port qualifies me to serve again as a Director. I fervently support our anchor tenants and am hopeful for some changes for General Aviation tenants so that hangar space can be more accessible and rent can become more affordable. I think Mojave and the Spaceport have a future that is exciting and full of innovation!