Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

January 8, 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen:

When Jon Higley and Keith Zanghi met with Thrust SSC Webmaster Jeremy Davey last year he told us to tell the story of the North American Eagle™ and make sure, besides all the good and and exciting things to include the bad news as well.  So today, we are going to give you some more information regarding our bit of bad luck with our engine tests.

On the previous update you read about Bernard McVay & his son Chad's trip to S&S Turbine Services in Fort St. John, BC.  So at today’s work party, the team gathered around the television monitor as Bernard played back for us the video that was shot at Robin Sipe’s shop last Wednesday.

If you click on the photo above the turbine section is highlighted in the boxed area.  The turbine section of the engine is the area where the heat from the combuster cans is directed, causing the blades to move.  This in turn rotates the entire engine shaft on which all the compressor blades are attached.

The photograph above shows the three damaged turbine blades identified #1, #2 and #3 that were removed from the engine last Wednesday.  The #1 turbine wheel is the first set of blades with #3 turbine wheel being the aft most blades. Note: The engine is assembled in the vertical position.  This photograph above is a good engine.

The two photographs above show both sides of blades 1, 2 and 3. You can see the extensive damage of all three blades. The length on blades # 1 and # 2 are missing about 1/3 of their length. The # 1 turbine blades came in contact with the internal rub seals that are attached to the outercase. When this happen a loss of compression occured that enabled the flame to attach to the nozzle in front of # 1 turbine. This caused a severe overheat condition of # 1 turbine blade which then started to melt and disntigrate. The resulting FOD (Foreign Object Damage) went through turbine # 2 and # 3 causing them to be damaged, spraying the entire aft portion of the engine with molten metal. From the photos, you can see the extensive damage to each of the blades. The green tint that is noticeable on # 3 turbine is the titanium separating due to the heat damage. All of this damage took place in a very short period of time over a 20 degree temperature range.

The good news is Robin Sipe, Allen Von Hollen, Dave Wood, Brian Maddigan and Lane McCabe have already started the rebuild at S&S Turbine Services.  Even more good news is the fact that Bernard recorded the entire disassembly on video and there is a good chance it will be included on the Discovery Canada Documentary that is in production.  Film will be sent to Toronto early next week.

Well, it's obvious that Bernard’s videotape was the highlight of the work party, but some other tasks were accomplished by Steve and Libby Wallace, Earl Gratzer, Glenn Amy, Ed Drumheller, Bernard, Keith and Ed.

Steve continued to work on electrical and got everyone excited when he announced we needed to start the American Valley Aviation M32A-60B start cart to test a 400 cycle electronic component.  Team morale always goes up when we get to start the turbine powered start cart.  We are also convinced the surrounding neighbor’s morale is improved also from the beautiful sound of the whining turbine and the sweat smell of burned kerosene wafting through the air!

Ed II was fine tuning our 1931 Kirby industrial sewing machine.  It works fine; it just needs constant attention to keep it in tip top shape.  We could sure use a good used machine if anyone out there might have one they would be willing to donate to the project.

Ed and Earl worked on a new shroud that seals the front of the engine to the aft side of the inlet ducts.  Glenn stopped by to clarify some Public Relation activities he and Jon Higley are working on.  Bernard, Ed and Keith designed a new engine loading device.  In the upcoming week materials will be secured and construction will take place next Saturday for that piece of equipment.  The new engine loading device will allows us to do an engine change in around an hour.  Sounds like a top fuel operation doesn’t it?

That’s it for now, see you next week.

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