Sonoma Raceway

On our way back from Sonoma this past Sunday, we made sure that the flight path took us over the Sonoma Raceway.

An airship over a technical track is a fantastic way to experience an auto race -- you can see the whole track, hear the roar of the engines, and even smell the race from our vantage feet a bit over 1000 feet above the action.

We got some great shots of the track from the airship, and hope to find many opportunities to work with them in the future.

Meteorite Flight to Wine Country

We flew the Meteorite Flight on Friday, getting into Sonoma late in the afternoon. Over the weekend the lead scientist, Peter Jenniskens of SETI, blogged about his experiences at the SETI web site. We were able to provide two passes over the projected debris field on the trip, carrying Peter, a navigator, and a resident of Novato (Glenn Rivera) who had helped the effort last week.

Flight Path from Moffett to Sonoma with pass over projected Meteorite Path

Some pictures below -- for the full post by Peter, visit cams.seti.org

The trend line calculation of the path based on data received so far (Image courtesy cams.seti.org)

Novato-2, found by Brien Cook of Sacramento. Right photo shows a slice. (Photo courtesy cams.seti.org) 

Left to Right - Jim Albers, Glenn Rivera, Peter Jenniskens (Photo courtesy cams.seti.org)

Meteorite Flight Underway

The Marin Independent Journal calls it...

"Continuing to stalk the elusive meteor fragments, Jenniskens will catch a ride on the zeppelin "Eureka," owned by Airship Ventures, over the trajectory of the fireball Friday to see if there are crash zones for larger chunks of the meteor."

We expect to arrive to Charles Schulz Sonoma Airport late this afternoon.

Meteorite Sample

On October 17, California was treated to a second meteorite of the year. What are the chances of that?

Peter Jenniskens, astronomer at the SETI Institute, came by today to show off this recently found meteorite, and to discuss the Meteorite Flight we plan to do tomorrow. We're hoping the aerial search we do tomorrow will help researchers find additional, and hopefully larger, examples. Stay tuned!

(The flight will depart Moffett Field in the morning, and arrive to Charles Schulz Sonoma Airport in the late afternoon. We then will be doing ground tours and Wine Country flights both Saturday and Sunday).

Salt Flat Ghost Town

A handful of abandoned buildings cruising over the salt ponds.

College of San Mateo

Pretty nice campus!

GoPro San Mateo