INYOKERN, Kern County — October 31, 2026. On a Halloween afternoon in a World War II-era hangar, children collected candy, families explored aircraft, and a piece of aviation history stood just steps away: the Long-ESA, an experimental battery-powered airplane that once exceeded 200 mph over the Mojave Desert. Its creator, engineer and record-setting pilot Chip Yates, gave an exclusive on-camera interview to Vitaly Ataev Troshin, editor and founder of California58 and Inyokern News, explaining why he has kept the aircraft in Inyokern since 2012, what it took to fly it and why he remains devoted to this corner of California.

Yates had brought more than an airplane to the gathering. His electric-motorcycle history, racing displays and flight gear helped visitors trace an unlikely journey from gasoline-powered motorcycle competition to battery-powered aviation. In a friendly atmosphere, Yates talked with visitors and handed out Halloween candy. The local event, Halloween in the Hangar, was advertised for 2–6 p.m. Saturday, October 31, with trunk-or-treating, bounce houses and popcorn.

“This is my favorite place in the world”

Asked why a high-profile aviation innovator would base a record-setting aircraft in a small desert community rather than in Orange County, Yates described an invitation that changed his plans. After announcing that he intended to build an electric airplane, he said, representatives from Inyokern Airport reached out and suggested attempting his records there. He visited and discovered a place suited to experimental flight: long runways, comparatively light traffic and room to conduct tests.

“We based ourselves out of here, set the eight world records, and then I decided to stay. So I’ve been here since 2012. Just love the place.”

His answer to a follow-up about the future of the Long-ESA was equally striking: “This will stay here until it goes to the Smithsonian.” That is Yates’s stated intention, not confirmation of an acquisition or exhibition agreement with the Smithsonian Institution.

For residents of Inyokern, Ridgecrest and the Indian Wells Valley, the interview places an internationally reported technological achievement back in the community where its defining early flights happened.

From gasoline motorcycles to an electric racing machine

Yates told Inyokern News that he began with conventional gasoline motorcycles before turning to electric power around 2010. He built an electric racing motorcycle, competed at Pikes Peak and pursued records at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He described a Pikes Peak record and eight Bonneville records as part of that progression.

Contemporary reporting shows why his project attracted attention. In April 2011, WIRED reported that Yates reached 190.6 mph in the Mojave Mile on an electric motorcycle, a dramatic challenge to assumptions about battery-powered racing. But he did not stop with motorcycles. He wanted to apply the engineering lessons to the air.

At the Halloween event, visitors could see memorabilia connected with that work, including motorcycles, display posters and a flight suit associated with his experimental aviation program. These objects gave families a physical connection to a story often encountered only in online videos or old aviation headlines.

The Long-ESA: a Long-EZ transformed into an electric record machine

The distinctive airplane on display is a modified Long-EZ, a canard-style experimental aircraft design associated with aerospace innovator Burt Rutan. Yates and his team converted it into the battery-powered Long-ESA, replacing the original gasoline engine with an electric propulsion system.

In the interview, Yates explained that the rear passenger seat was effectively surrendered to batteries. The electric motor, he said, delivered roughly twice the horsepower of the engine it replaced. That conversion came at a cost in endurance, passenger capacity and comfort: the cockpit was cramped, and the interviewer joked that there was hardly room for a drink or popcorn. Yates agreed that there were no creature comforts.

Technical reporting from the period adds detail. AOPA reported a 258-horsepower electric motor and a battery system that could be depleted in as little as 15 minutes at full power. In its 2014 coverage, AOPA described ratified records for speed, altitude and time to climb. These technical figures describe the record-era aircraft, not a current airworthiness certification or a promise that it is ready for passenger flight.

The 2012 flight that put Inyokern in aviation headlines

On July 19, 2012, Yates flew the electric Long-ESA at Inyokern Airport and reported reaching 202.6 mph—a major milestone for piloted electric aviation at the time. AOPA, KITPLANES, WIRED and other aviation publications covered the achievement and its extraordinary risk.

It is important to distinguish the reported 202.6-mph flight figure from later formally ratified records, which were measured over specified distances and under defined rules. AOPA later documented a record of 201.337 mph over a 1.86-mile course and other category records. In 2013, WIRED reported that Yates went on to improve his electric-flight speed achievements.

The record flight was not a carefree demonstration. A battery-cell problem interrupted propulsion, and Yates had to bring the airplane down without engine power. The incident is documented in contemporary aviation coverage, not merely in retrospective storytelling.

Four powerless landings — and four survivals

During the interview, Yates described the danger in blunt terms. Looking at a poster featuring himself and the aircraft, he joked that he was glad he had not ended up looking like the person in the image after a crash. Then he explained what the tests demanded.

“I had four dead-stick landings, which means no power, gliding, emergency landing. And I survived them.”

A dead-stick landing is a landing without usable engine thrust: the pilot must manage the aircraft’s remaining altitude and speed to reach a suitable surface. In a high-performance experimental aircraft with limited energy reserves, the margin for error can be exceptionally small. Yates’s firsthand account is a reminder that technological records are built not only on ambitious designs but also on tests in which systems can fail.

Those close calls helped make his work widely discussed in aviation media. AOPA’s 2012 report described the first emergency landing, and subsequent reports documented further tests, battery changes and additional records.

Watch Chip Yates’s aviation footage

Video: footage supplied for this report from Chip Yates’s YouTube presence. Watch the video on YouTube and use the uploader’s channel link there to explore his other aviation and racing videos.

A different airplane for a different mission: the eight-seat Cessna 414

Today, Yates told Inyokern News, his everyday flying looks very different from his electric record attempts. He now regularly flies a Cessna 414, a pressurized, turbocharged twin-engine airplane with eight seats in the configuration he described. He pointed out that it even has a small onboard toilet—a far cry from the battery-packed Long-ESA.

The Cessna 414 is not the electric record airplane. Yates uses the conventional twin for practical travel between the desert and coastal Southern California. He said he flies it weekly and that it is based at John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

When asked what a trip from Orange County costs, Yates estimated a few hundred dollars in fuel. The interviewer compared that with a long-distance Uber ride that could cost around $300. Yates agreed with the comparison and laughed about how he explains his travel habits at home. The figures are conversational estimates, not a full accounting of aircraft ownership, maintenance, insurance, hangar fees or operating costs.

Yates said flying can reduce a roughly three-and-a-half-hour drive to around 45 minutes in the air, making it easier to move among the places where he spends time. He described the twin as his commuter airplane, saying that this arrangement makes his lifestyle and property commitments possible.

Why he keeps coming back to the desert

Yates told the newspaper that he visits the Inyokern area two or three times a month. He spoke warmly about nearby mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Pacific Crest Trail and Mount Whitney. What some visitors dismiss as remote desert, he sees as immediate access to remarkable landscapes.

“This is my favorite place in the world.”

His message was emphatic: “I’m never leaving. I love it here.” In context, Yates was expressing his attachment to the area and his intention to maintain his presence, not announcing that he was moving his primary residence to Inyokern. He said he owns property in the region and regularly travels back and forth from Orange County.

Inyokern Airport’s relatively long runways and lower traffic volume helped draw him there for tests. Years later, those same features, together with the surrounding mountains and community, remain part of its appeal.

California’s costs — and why Yates says innovation is worth staying for

The conversation also turned to a broader question: should inventors and business owners leave California because of high costs? Yates acknowledged that taxes are high and that the state can sometimes be difficult for businesses. Yet he strongly defended California as a place to build new technology.

He said he owns two homes and three airplane hangars in California and believes the benefits outweigh the expense for him. He also compared Orange County’s large population and engineering talent pool with Idaho, where some members of his family have moved.

“California is a good place for innovation. I think it’s probably the best place for innovation.”

His reasoning centered on access to engineers, consultants, skilled workers and a culture in which unconventional projects can find collaborators. He credited California’s opportunities with helping him pursue gasoline motorcycles, electric motorcycles and experimental aircraft. These are Yates’s personal views and experiences, not an independent ranking of state business climates.

For an interview conducted in a small Kern County hangar, the conversation was a reminder that California’s aerospace story extends beyond its largest cities. Innovation has also taken place in desert airfields, workshops and communities that rarely make national headlines.

Halloween in the Hangar: the human side of aviation

Outside the technical discussion, the afternoon was about neighbors meeting neighbors. The October 31 Halloween gathering brought costumed children and families to Inyokern Airport’s historic hangar for candy, activities and an opportunity to see aircraft up close. Yates spent time with visitors, answered questions and handed out treats.

For a child encountering an electric record airplane for the first time, the encounter could be as memorable as any number in a record book. And for adults, the opportunity to ask the person who designed and flew it about the failures, improvisations and decisions behind the machine was unusual.

Yates did not present Inyokern as a temporary stop on the way to something more important. He presented it as a place where important work had already happened—and somewhere he still wants to be.

Why this interview matters to eastern Kern County

Inyokern is often described in relation to nearby Ridgecrest or the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. But the Long-ESA story belongs to Inyokern itself. Its runway was the setting for a widely reported 2012 electric-flight milestone, and the aircraft’s creator says he intends to keep it based there unless it eventually goes to a museum.

Yates’s history spans electric motorcycle racing, aircraft engineering, record attempts, emergency landings and conventional private flying. His account connects those milestones with a local airport, a Halloween celebration and a continuing relationship with the surrounding desert communities.

In the closing minutes of the interview, he returned to his weekly flights between John Wayne Airport and the desert. His aircraft is a tool for making long distances manageable. Yet the story of why he travels them remains personal: he likes the landscape, the people and the airport where his electric airplane made history.

Watch the complete exclusive interview

Interview: Vitaly Ataev Troshin, editor and founder, Inyokern News / California58. Location: Inyokern Airport, Kern County, California. Recorded: October 31, 2026, during Halloween in the Hangar. Watch the interview on YouTube.

Sources and further reading

Editor’s note: Statements about present-day travel, personal preferences, aircraft ownership, future museum plans and the number of emergency landings are attributed to Yates’s October 31 interview. Historic flight performance is separately contextualized with contemporary reporting. Interview excerpts were lightly punctuated for readability.

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