Candidate for
Director, 4 Year; Indian Wells Valley Airport District

I've been in Ridgecrest 26 years as a civilian engineer on the Base with projects ranging from electronic design to flight test engineering as a back-seater to a negotiator pursuing funding in Washington, D. C. I finally retired in January of this year.

For the last ten years or so, I've been an active member of the Rotary Club of China Lake, specializing in international humanitarian projects. In 2000, I created a project that sent a ton of children's clothes to Bosnian kids. I was voted Rotarian of the Year for 2002-2003. I'm also a dedicated photographer of the area. Many people bought either or both of the scenic computer screen savers I created as fund-raisers for the Rotary Club.

I'm a military-trained Aviation Safety Officer, Airfield Operations Officer, Electronic Warfare Officer, and Threat Briefing Officer. I'm an accomplished aviation safety writer and speaker with articles published in the military aviation safety publications of the U. S. and Canada.

I got my start in aviation during the late sixties in the military, flying Huey helicopters on a combat tour in Vietnam, followed by an aviation tour in Germany. Afterward, I went to school on the GI Bill and was a founding member of the first helicopter MEDEVAC unit in the California National Guard. I first discovered Ridgecrest during a night flight to China Lake from Ft. Irwin while providing MEDEVAC support.

Throughout the next 33 years, I remained on flight status, getting transitions in the CH-47 Chinook and the UH-60 Black Hawk. I've hoisted people from Mt. Whitney and Shasta, dropped countless thousands of gallons of water on wildfires, been deployed to Panama three times, and spent a tour flying MEDEVAC for NATO forces in Bosnia. I have good friends flying in Iraq right now.

I got my FAA fixed-wing commercial rating in 1973 and have about 1,500 hours in those aircraft. Here, I was active as an officer in the China Lake Navy Flying Club and served as President a total of four years.

My wife and I are both active commercial writers, producing material for national magazines and major newspapers in Southern California. I've won three industry awards for writing and photography, the latest being the 2006 Northern Lights Award for excellence in photography from the Canadian Board of Tourism.