About
Ian Kluft
ik-blog@thunder.sbay.org
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Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Reminder: paper pilot certificates no longer valid after March 31
Pilots: if you're still using a paper pilot certificate, time is running out
to replace it with a plastic certificate so you can keep using it.
See my entry on my PilotQuest blog,
"Reminder: paper pilot certificates no longer valid after March 31".
[/aviation/pilotquest] permanent link
Thu, 11 Feb 2010
New FAA instrument flight procedures published today
It's another 56-day cycle of FAA instrument procedures.
More airports are getting LPV instrument approaches.
The lucky one in California this time is Auburn.
I have a
summary of what's new
in my flying and flight instruction blog at PilotQuest.com.
[/aviation/pilotquest] permanent link
Mon, 09 Nov 2009
Masten Space Systems goes to Washington DC for NASA award in Lunar Lander Challenge, Nov 5, 2009
I posted my photos
of the trip with the Masten Space Systems crew to Washington DC for the
NASA and X-Prize Foundation award ceremony at the Capitol
for the Lunar Lander Challenge on Nov 5, 2009.
And I did some sightseeing on Nov 6-8 while I was there.
[/aerospace/mss] permanent link
Sat, 31 Oct 2009
Masten Space Systems qualifies for Level 2 of Lunar Lander Challenge, Oct 30, 2009
I posted my photos
of Masten Space Systems' rocket flights qualifying for Level 2 of the
Lunar Lander Challenge in Mojave, California on Oct 30, 2009.
[/aerospace/mss] permanent link
Thu, 08 Oct 2009
Masten Space Systems qualifies for Level 1 of Lunar Lander Challenge, Oct 7, 2009
I posted my photos
of Masten Space Systems' rocket flights qualifying for Level 1 of the
Lunar Lander Challenge in Mojave, California on Oct 7, 2009.
[/aerospace/mss] permanent link
Mon, 05 Oct 2009
List of planned instrument approaches now updated weekly
I posted an entry
on my flight instruction blog,
"List of planned instrument approaches now updated weekly".
This is a display of the FAA's schedule of new instrument approaches.
And now
my display of the data
has been expanded from a statewide list to nationwide.
[/aviation/pilotquest] permanent link
Sun, 04 Oct 2009
5 year ago: SpaceShipOne won the X-Prize
I was there among the tens of thousands of spectators on Oct 4, 2004
to see SpaceShipOne win the X-Prize in Mojave for a second manned
space flight in a matter of days.
See my pictures and others' at Stratofox.
Stratofox remote support for Mars Society TEMPO3 balloon flight, Sept 26, 2009
I was one of the Stratofox crew who provided
remote assistance from California
for the Mars Society's TEMPO3 balloon flight in Colorado on
September 26, 2009.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Las Vegas photos
I posted
photos from my trip to Las Vegas
to visit family on Sept 23-25, 2009.
WebFetch 0.13
I posted WebFetch 0.13,
an update of the feed reading and distributing Perl module.
A new feature is the ability to write data to
TWiki systems.
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
XML::CAP 0.02 Perl module
I posted
XML::CAP 0.02
an update of the Perl module which handles the
XML Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
Sat, 12 Sep 2009
Photos of Space Shuttle Discovery landing at Edwards
I posted
my photos of the Space Shuttle Discovery landing at Edwards AFB
on Friday, Sept 11, 2009.
[/aerospace/shuttle] permanent link
Masten Space Systems rocket lander flight test
I posted (with permission)
photos of Masten Space Systems test flight
of the XA-0.1B rocket lander in preparation for the
Level 1 Lunar Lander Challenge competition flights.
[/aerospace/mss] permanent link
Tour of XCOR Aerospace in Mojave
I posted (with permission)
photos of a tour XCOR Aerospace
on Friday, Sept 11, 2009
including quick looks at the EZ-Rocket, X-Racer and progress on construction
of the Lynx spacecraft.
Flight to Mojave to see the space shuttle landing
I posted
pictures from
the flight to the Mojave Air & Space Port
to see the space shuttle landing on Sept 11, 2009.
10 years ago today: Lightning struck my backyard
10 years ago today,
lightning struck a tree in my backyard.
It was easy to remember the date: 9/9/99.
I posted pictures of the burn marks on a broken branch when it was
later removed, and notes about what I learned about the event.
At least I knew my Ham Radio antennas were properly grounded - since an
antenna taller than the tree was only 15 feet away and was not struck!
The strong line of thunderstorms had gotten the attention of everyone
across the Bay Area. I wasn't the only one with a story like this.
New instrument approaches planned for California
I posted a
blog entry
and a
web page with the full list
of FAA's planned new instrument approaches for California.
Many airports are getting new WAAS LPV approaches with lower
minimums, which means they should be useful in more types of weather.
WebFetch 0.12
I updated the Perl module WebFetch to version 0.12.
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
Mon, 24 Aug 2009
New Perl module XML::CAP
I uploaded a new Perl module
XML::CAP which handles the XML Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
Wed, 29 Jul 2009
Something else Twitter could stand for
As tweeted,
something else Twitter could stand for:
"Today's Worldwide Internet Trend for Tech Entertainment and Revolution".
Something else Twitter could stand for
I tweeted
something else Twitter could stand for:
"Talk With Impunity, 'Til The Employer Reads".
Practice Instrument Approaches at Stockton, July 20, 2009
I got
some pictures
while I helped as "safety pilot" when a friend flew
some practice instrument approaches at Stockton Metro Airport.
Photos from NewSpace 2009 Conference
I posted
my pictures
from the Space Frontier Foundation's NewSpace 2009 Conference
at NASA Ames on July 18-19, 2009. The conference continued to July 20.
Something else Twitter could stand for
Of course, I tweeted this first...
Twitter could also stand for
"Tangled Web of Incomplete Thoughts Transcends Earlier Rumormills".
Photos from the LiveStrong Challenge in San Jose, July 12, 2009
I participated as the radio operator on a SAG (support and gear)
vehicle at the LiveStrong Challenge bike race in San Jose on
July 12, 2009.
I posted my photos.
[/siliconvalley] permanent link
Tue, 07 Jul 2009
Comical Waypoint Names
I posted
"Comical Waypoint Names"
on my flight instruction blog at PilotQuest.com.
[/aviation/pilotquest] permanent link
What Twitter really stands for
You heard it first from me.
Twitter now stands for
"Tersely Worded Information Through Text Enclosure Restrictions".
Photos of fireworks in Cameron Park, June 27, 2009
I posted my photos of the
fireworks at Cameron Park's
Summer Spectacular 2009.
"Flying GPS-direct is simple - but still no substitute for thinking"
I posted
"Flying GPS-direct is simple - but still no substitute for thinking"
on my flight instruction blog at PilotQuest.com.
[/aviation/pilotquest] permanent link
Thu, 18 Jun 2009
Getting to the Black Rock Desert
I added a page
"Getting to the Black Rock Desert"
which has information including the current I-80 road construction over the
Sierras and alternative routes.
get-twitter-rss 0.4 - bug fix update, parsing improvement
I posted
get-twitter-rss 0.4,
an update which fixes a bug and improves the method of parsing
Twitter text to add links.
get-twitter-rss gets a Twitter user's updates via their RSS feed and
formats it for display on a web site.
I use it on my own site.
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
Mon, 01 Jun 2009
get-twitter-rss - a Perl script to get and format Twitter updates
I posted the code for a Perl script
get-twitter-rss 0.3
which gets a Twitter user's updates RSS feed and formats it as desired
using the Perl Template Toolkit.
This script is now running every 5 minutes to update my Twitter status on
my home page.
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
Sun, 24 May 2009
Atlantis landing at Edwards on May 24, 2009
I went to Southern California to see the space shuttle landing.
Here are
my photos of the landing.
[/aerospace/shuttle] permanent link
Wed, 20 May 2009
Recollections on the 5th anniversary of the CSXT Space Shot
Stratofox posted
recollections
(including mine)
of the CSXT Space Shot 2004.
That was the first amateur rocket launched to space.
It took place at Nevada's Black Rock Desert.
I led the search teams which recovered the spacecraft.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Sun, 10 May 2009
Photos of Masten Space Systems VTVL rocket flight test, May 8, 2009
I posted
my photos
of Masten Space Systems' first flight test of a
vertical takeoff/vertical landing (VTVL) rocket at the
Mojave Air & Space Port on May 8, 2009.
[/aerospace/mss] permanent link
Sun, 03 May 2009
Stratofox presentation at EmCommWest/Pacificon 2009
The slides have been posted from
my presentation about the Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team
at EmCommWest/Pacificon 2009,
the ARRL Pacific Division Convention,
in Reno, Nevada on May 2, 2009.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Sun, 12 Apr 2009
Soaring (glider flying) photos at Hollister on April 11, 2009
I posted photos from soaring
(flying in a glider) at Hollister on April 11, 2009.
This time I got more pictures because I rode in the back seat while
another glider pilot Gabriel Flores flew.
Photos from open house at new NASA Dryden facility in Palmdale
I attended the open house of the new NASA Dryden facility in Palmdale
on April 9, 2009.
This is where they'll keep the SOFIA airborne telescope and other
NASA aircraft.
I posted pictures.
Photos from Space Access 2009
I posted
photos from Space Access 2009 in Phoenix on April 2-4, 2009 and the
flight home on April 5.
Soaring (glider flying) photos at Hollister on March 16, 2009
I posted photos from soaring
(flying in a glider) at Hollister on March 16, 2009.
Photos from SVWUX meeting Feb 5, 2009
It took a couple months but I finally downloaded the photos from the
February 2009 SVWUX meeting
out of my camera.
Stratofox presentation at Space Access '09
The slides have been posted from
my presentation about the Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team
at the
Space Access 2009 Conference
in Phoenix, Arizona on April 2, 2009.
SVWUX mail list for state alerts affecting Santa Clara County
The ongoing storms from the past week have had a lot of us emergency
responders waiting and watching. I made a
mail list
and an automated tool for SVWUX
to forward alerts affecting Santa Clara County
from the California OES (Office of Emergency Services)
to subscribers of the mail list.
Outline found for suspected impact crater at Black Rock
We finally have an outline that we can have confidence in
for the suspected impact crater.
I found a circle that fits a succession of mountain ranges/peaks/etc all the
way around, marking fragmented remnants of the rim of the suspected crater.
It turns out to be a lot bigger than any of us expected at over 50 miles
across, surrounding the entire Black Rock region.
In hindsight, it was a big hangup for us -
none of us were looking at that big a scale.
The 30-mile scale circular feature we previously thought was the rim
(which includes the Kamma Mountains)
is apparently the remains of an uplift ring concentric within the larger
structure.
I posted
the outline
with a link to a Google map with an overlay that you can use to explore
the terrain features for yourself.
"State of the Research 2009"
I posted the
"State of the Research 2009"
summarizing the current progress, plans for the upcoming year
and some answers to frequent questions in the research of a
suspected impact crater at Nevada's Black Rock Desert.
Stratofox recovers missing Japanese CanSat research payload at Black Rock
I was a member of the Stratofox team who
recovered the missing Japanese CanSat research payload
from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada on November 23.
The odds against finding a soda can sized object in the vast desert
would have made a needle in a haystack search look good.
Fortunately, as has been the story before, a little intuition about where
to narrow down the search and quite a bit of luck led to success.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Mon, 10 Nov 2008
Discover Magazine mentions my Black Rock crater research
The December 2008 issue of Discover Magazine mentioned my research about
the possible impact crater at the Black Rock Desert. Though the scarce
print-column space only mentioned me, of course many friends
have helped me with the project. I wrote
an
article to acknowledge everyone's help.
Photos from AOPA Expo 2008 in San Jose
I posted
my photos from AOPA Expo 2008,
the national convention of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association,
which was held in San Jose on Nov 6-8.
![[photo]](/images/100x66-img_1938.jpg)
I posted photos from a "Bay Tour" flight in a friend's plane.
Photos include the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco International Airport.
Photos of the fireworks at San Jose, July 4, 2008
I got pictures of the 4th of July fireworks in downtown San Jose.
[/siliconvalley] permanent link
Fri, 13 Jun 2008
Grand Canyon photos
I posted
photos of the Grand Canyon
from my visit on June 12, 2008.
Night photography in downtown San Jose, April 12, 2008
I did some
nighttime photography in downtown San Jose on April 12 and posted
my photos.
The weather was perfect.
I got pictures of The Tech Museum and the
Circle of Palms/San Jose Museum of Art.
[/siliconvalley] permanent link
SVWUX visit to Mt Umunhum, April 11, 2008
I posted pictures
from SVWUX's visit to the radio facilities on Mt Umunhum on April 11, 2008
[/siliconvalley] permanent link
Fri, 28 Mar 2008
Presentation slides on rocket piloting from Space Access '08
I posted my slides from the panel discussion about "Paths to Rocket Piloting"
on March 27, the first day of the Space Access '08 conference
in Phoenix, Arizona.
These slides weren't actually shown due to changes in format of the panel.
But they were used for notes and I promised the audience I'd post them.
You can download them as
PDF (256K)
or
OpenOffice (260K).
Passed the Commercial Pilot check ride
I took the Commercial Pilot Airplane check ride (flight exam) today with an
FAA designated examiner. The flight was out of Reid-Hillview Airport.
I passed. So after 19 years as a private pilot,
today begins a new chapter in aviation for me with my commercial pilot
(airplane single-engine land) license.
Flight to Apple Valley and Mojave on Feb 28, 2008
![[photo]](/images/100x66-img_0440.jpg)
I've posted
photos from
my flight to Apple Valley and Mojave
on Feb 28, 2008.
Photos of Gimli Glider at Mojave
![[photo]](/images/100x66-img_0371.jpg)
I snapped some
photos of the Gimli Glider at the Mojave Air & Space Port today.
Defending Reid Hillview Airport
Reid-Hillview Airport is under possible threat again from our county
politicians.
This seems to happen once a decade.
I posted an article on "Defending Reid-Hillview Airport".
Got my Instrument Rating
For those who might have wondered what I've been up to lately,
I passed the check ride (flight exam) today and got my instrument rating.
My flight to the Mojave Air & Space Port
I posted
pictures from my flight
to the Mojave Air & Space Port on November 14, 2007.
I also have a
blog entry at SpaceDash
about it.
Pictures from Stratofox 4 camping trip to Black Rock Desert
![[image of Upper High Dry Lakebed]](/images/100x66-img_9951.jpg)
I posted my photos from the
Stratofox 4
recreation and exploration trip to the Black Rock Desert
on Aug 17-19, 2007.
Pictures from Picn*x 16, the Linux 16th Anniversary Picnic
Wow! What a great picnic.
Good food.
Lots of personal networking (about 400 attendees.)
And it's turning into a bit of a technology demo too.
I posted
my pictures from Picn*x 16,
celebrating the accomplishments of Open Source Software since the release
of the first Linux kernel in August 1991.
AeroPAC's Aeronaut 2007 launch at Black Rock
I was at
AeroPAC's Aeronaut 2007 launch meet
on Aug 4-5, 2007.
Once again, I was the Launch Control Officer at the night launch.
Photos of Blue Origin's spaceport site
I got some
pictures of Blue Origin's
spaceport site north of Van Horn, Texas when I was passing through the
area on July 15, 2007.
Photos of Sierra Madera impact crater
I posted photos of
the Sierra Madera impact crater
south of Fort Stockton, Texas from a visit on July 15, 2007.
Photos of fireworks in downtown San Jose, July 4, 2007
I posted
my photos of this year's 4th of July fireworks
in San Jose.
[/siliconvalley] permanent link
Sun, 01 Jul 2007
Photos of fireworks show in Cameron Park, June 30, 2007
I posted my photos of the
fireworks at Cameron Park's
Summer Spectacular 2007.
Photos of Atlantis landing at Edwards
I got lucky. I was visiting Mojave when the space shuttle came to land
nearby at Edwards AFB. I posted
my photos of the landing.
[/aerospace/shuttle] permanent link
My photos in the Masten Space Systems blog
Some of
my photos from 6/21
are shown in the Masten Space Systems blog.
There's continuing progress toward the first tethered flight.
[/aerospace/mss] permanent link
Wed, 20 Jun 2007
Photos of Atlantis and ISS visible pass, June 19, 2007
I got pictures of the
visible pass
of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station
over the Bay Area on June 19, 2007.
This was a few hours after Atlantis undocked so they passed as two
separate dots in the sky, or separate streaks in my long-exposure photos.
[/aerospace/shuttle] permanent link
Tue, 24 Apr 2007
Stratofox presentation at Carter Observatory, Wellington NZ
I've posted the slides from
my presentation about Stratofox at the Carter Observatory
in Wellington, New Zealand on April 7.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Sat, 24 Mar 2007
Space Access '07 Conference, Phoenix, Arizona, Mar 22-24, 2007
I posted
my notes from the Space Access '07 conference
in Phoenix, Arizona on March 22-24, 2007.
Pictures from Stratofox Crater Assault 1, Jan 28, 2007
Stratofox members went on expedition to Black Rock which we called
Stratofox Crater Assault 1
on January 28, 2007.
The purpose of the trip was to investigate the theory of
an impact crater at Black Rock and collect rock samples.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Sun, 11 Feb 2007
Impact crater at Black Rock Desert
I posted on my web site
"Submitted for Study:
Discovery of Possible Impact Crater at Nevada's Black Rock Desert",
my presentation of evidence of an impact crater at the Black Rock Desert.
I have many friends to thank for their help in this research,
listed in the Acknowledgments section.
X Prize Cup, October 20-21, 2006
I've had my pictures uploaded since just after the event.
But things like my day job got priority since I got back.
Three weeks later I've finally posted
my write-up of the
X Prize Cup 2006 which took place Oct 20-21 in
Las Cruces, NM.
Comet Swan photos
Sean Lynch and I got
photos of Comet Swan.
Zion National Park, Utah
I posted
pictures
from my trip to Zion National Park in Utah on Sept 27, 2006.
Shuttle Debris Search, Day 2
I posted
pictures
from the second of 2 days searching for shuttle debris in southern Utah.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Mon, 25 Sep 2006
Shuttle Debris Search, Day 1
I posted
pictures
from the first of 2 days searching for shuttle debris in southern Utah.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Sun, 24 Sep 2006
"The Loneliest Road" and Great Basin National Park
On Sept 24, 2006, I had a road trip on Nevada's US-50, "The Loneliest Road
in America" and visited Great Basin National Park for a cave tour.
See my pictures.
AeroPAC's XPRS 2006 launch at Black Rock
I was at
AeroPAC's XPRS 2006 launch meet
on Saturday, Sept 23, 2006.
I was the Launch Control Officer at the night launch.
Pictures from Stratofox 3, Sept 2006
My pictures from the Stratofox 3 camping trip
to the Black Rock Desert
on September 8-10, 2006.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Tue, 16 May 2006
Image::Flight::Suborbital 0.1 uploaded to CPAN
Image::Flight::Suborbital 0.1 was uploaded to CPAN.
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
Sun, 26 Mar 2006
Slauth 0.02 uploaded to CPAN
Slauth 0.02 was uploaded to CPAN.
[/opensource/perl] permanent link
Mon, 04 Jul 2005
Fireworks Pictures from Downtown San Jose, July 4, 2005
I got pictures of
the downtown San Jose fireworks show
on July 4, 2005.
So if you missed your local fireworks show or just couldn't get enough,
I hope you enjoy this!
[/siliconvalley] permanent link
Fri, 15 Apr 2005
Tax Day 2005 Madness at the San Jose main Post Office
A well-kept secret form of entertainment in my neighborhood is
to walk over to the nearby San Jose main Post Office and watch
the
madness as people get their tax returns in at midnight on April 15.
Well, the secret is out. Here are pictures from Tax Day 2005.
[/siliconvalley] permanent link
Fri, 26 Nov 2004
Stratofox recovers missing CSXT booster
On Nov 26, 2004, Stratofox
recovered
the missing rocket booster
from the CSXT Space Shot 2004 from snow-covered mountains in Nevada.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Wed, 27 Oct 2004
Total Lunar Eclipse Pictures
I've posted pictures
that I took at the total lunar eclipse on the
evening of Oct 27, 2004.
Pictures of SpaceShipOne, Oct 4, 2004
Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne won the XPrize on Oct 4.
See my pictures and others' at Stratofox.
Photos of fireworks in Cameron Park, June 26, 2004
I posted my photos from the
fireworks at the Cameron Park Summer Spectacular
on June 26, 2004.
CSXT SpaceShot 2004, May 17-18, 2004
Pictures
by Stratofox members (including me)
from the CSXT SpaceShot 2004,
the world's first amateur rocket launch to space.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Sun, 24 Aug 2003
Pictures from Stratofox 2, Aug 2003
My pictures from the Stratofox 2 camping trip
to the Black Rock Desert
on August 22-24, 2003.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Sat, 01 Feb 2003
Eyewitness to STS-107 Columbia disaster
I was an eyewitness to the re-entry of the Space Shuttle Columbia from
Mount Hamilton near San Jose, California as it left a strangely-smoky
trail across the sky on Feb 1, 2003.
See my article, "Report from Viewing the Re-entry of STS-107".
[/aerospace/shuttle] permanent link
Sun, 08 Sep 2002
Pictures from Stratofox 1, Sept 2002
My pictures from the Stratofox 1 camping trip
to the Black Rock Desert
on September 6-8, 2002.
[/aerospace/stratofox] permanent link
Tue, 26 Mar 2002
JP Aerospace's DSS3/Oklahoma, March 2002
My pictures
from JP Aerospace's Dark Sky Station 3 mission,
the inaugural flight from the Oklahoma Spaceport,
March 23-24, 2002
[/aerospace/jpa] permanent link
Tue, 02 Mar 1999
Rotary Rocket Company's Roton ATV rollout ceremony, March 1, 1999
See my photos
of Rotart Rocket Company's Roton ATV rollout ceremony on March 1, 1999
at the Mojave Airport.
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Categories
- aerospace - 36
- jpa - 1
- mss - 6
- shuttle - 5
- stratofox - 13
- aviation - 19
- pilotquest - 5
- blackrock - 8
- craters - 1
- opensource - 9
- perl - 8
- photography - 9
- siliconvalley - 7
- social - 4
- svwux - 2
- weather - 1