First, I'm the Paul Raveling in California, not the one in Florida who also has prominent presence on the web.
(Yes, we're related to each other, somewhat distantly.)

One of my identities that has became increasingly well known from 2006 until 2010 was as the founding president of the El Dorado Hills Citizens Alliance. The Citizens Alliance dissolved in January 2,010 at my recommendation but I continue being independently active in advocacy on various local public affairs issues.


In retirement I am a docent at the Aerospace Museum of California, in Sacramento. My regular shift is every Thursday afternoon on the Exhibit Hall floor -- come on down and let's talk about aviation and space! My favorite place is the X-15 exhibit, but there's plenty of history throughout the Museum as well as links to the future.

As this paragraph is written in late June, 2011, I'm about to pick up a second volunteer role -- webmaster for the Sacramento Chapter of AIAA, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

I'm also an enthusiastic owner of a 2003 Honda S2000 -- Click any photo befow to link to a photo page, featurning me and my S2000, "4TH X-15", at an open track day.  This Laguna Seca page includes two 1-minute QuickTime movie clips from a camera mounted in the car.

Nutshell summary of who I am...

I live in El Dorado Hills, California, on the western side of the Sierra Foothills, with my wife and two cats. (We sometimes borrow a neighbor's dog.)  I've recently retired from a career in software development that began 1966, following a head start through the UCLA Computer Club that began in 1962.  My original college education was in physics and math, but in truth that was only because there was no such thing as computer sciences yet while I was a student.

Philosophically, I'd accept a label as either an engineer or a scientist who's prone to being a generalist, not a specialist.  I'm driven to seek reality and reason, and am most comfortable with things that can be measured and predicted.  Politically, I'm nonpartisan, with California voter party registration "Decline To State". I served for 11 years as president of my homeowners association, representing 393 homes in my neighborhood.

Current and past hobbies include skiing, soaring (flying sailplanes), sailing (including racing), occasional "pleasure driving" on open track days, volunteering as a docent at the California Museum of Aerospace History and at the California Railroad Museum. My strongest special interest is in history of the X-15 flight research program -- the second of three Giant Leaps in flight research during the 20th Century. (The first was the Wright Brothers' work culminating in the Wright Flyer's first flight, the third was Apollo and its major milestone of the first human visit to the moon.) Links to a a few details...

Sailboat racing, off Marina del Rey in Soling US 389
 


Flying sailplanes...

Three Grob G103s
at Crystal , mid-1980s.
Waiting for thermals to pop before launching...

This field is at the edge of the Mojave Desert, just north of the San Gabriel Mountains.  As a renter I flew each of the Grobs in this photo, plus a variety of other types of sailplanes.



Here's a roster of sailplanes listed in my logbook:

Schweizer:      1-26, 1-34, 1-35, 2-22, 2-32, 2-33
Glasflugel:      Club Libelle
Grob:               G102, G103
Schleicher:     ASK-22
PZL Bielsko:  SZD 50-3 Puchacz
Pilatus:            B-4
North American Aviation:  X-15
    OK, I didn't actually fly the X-15 but Scott Crossfield kindly added a note about it in my logbook.
    The X-15 is in fact classified as a motorglider according to definitions in FAA and international regulations.