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Ladies and Gentlemen:

It was the first work session in September and Labor Day weekend at the Eagle's nest as a small crew consisting of Keith Zanghi, Ed Shadle, Jon Higley, John Winchester and Chris Greene met to work on the North American Eagle™.

For the second week in a row, welding machines and flame cutting has been on the agenda as work continues on the ballistic mid-wheel barriers. Thanks to our good folks at Central Welding Supply and Welder-Direct.com, the work progressed very well as Keith, Jon and Chris prepared custom steel shape and sizes in order to construct the new wheel wells. The three completed the right hand side of the vehicle and started work on the left hand side. By next week it is hope the entire fabrication portion of the job will be finished so installation of our spray in foam will take place. Following our November '09 test session at Black Rock, it became apparent that a modification of the mid-wheel bay was in order to prevent the buildup of the talcum powder consistency dust. More welding is on the agenda as the team modifies the McVay's Mobile Welding / Powder Coatings Inc mobilizer.

John stop by and finished some critical work on some new parachute latch mechanisms. With over 30 runs on the Eagle over 9 different test sessions we have refined our parachute deployment system tremendously. Starting with the excellent pre-work of Ed Drumheller, John Winchester has improved on those designs and carried the engineering quite a few steps further. We know Ed would be proud.

 Ed finished off his work on the parachute systems also with a complete re-wire. After our November '09 test session, we found several areas of improvement, and one of them was the parachute electrical system.

Meanwhile preparations are in work for our Computational Fluid Dynamics team as new Lenovo ThinkStations are being configured to provide a robust engineering platform for our Aerodynamics Team. Data obtain during our upcoming test session, will be plug into the models to validate the teams analysis.

A few months back Micah Carter from Capture 3D performed photogrammetry and scanning of the car using their ATOS 3D Digitizer. This 20 million point cloud was converted to surfaces using Geomagic Software. The file can now be manipulated in Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5 R19 software. Look for a major announcement in the next couple weeks regarding our CFD Software. Team NAE has partnered with the finest CFD software company in the world.

Ed Shadle, Ping Fu and Keith Zanghi at last year's Geomagic Convergence

Earlier in the week Ed and Keith gave a presentation to the Alfifi Shriners in Tacoma Washington. Since 1888 the Tacoma Center has been supporting the 22 Shrine Hospitals across America. Shriners Hospitals for Children® is a health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing pediatric specialty care, innovative research, and outstanding teaching programs for medical professionals. Children up to age 18 with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients’ ability to pay. On hand were new photo cards printed by South Island Print Services in Vancouver BC. South Island Print Services provides custom printing of business cards, stationery and posters for Team NAE™.

In upcoming weeks Jon Higley and Ed Shadle will be presenting at the Parkland-Spanaway Rotary in Parkland.

Huge announcement coming in a week or so regarding our upcoming test session in October. Team North American Eagle™ will be partnering with one of this country's finest organization supporting the youth of America. We'll have more information as soon as everything is complete. In addition look for coverage of our Team Meeting as we strategize over the upcoming test session.

The Bookstand

Now available for sale is Colonel Joe Kittinger's new book Come Up and Get Me: An Autobiography of Colonel Joseph Kittinger is can be purchased on Amazon.com. A longtime friend of the North American Eagle, we consider Col Joe a consultant, who advises us on technical matters regularly.

On the Newsstands

If you own a Falcon Business Jet, then you have seen the North American Eagle in the latest issue of Falconer Magazine, Issue 36 / 2010. If you're not lucky enough to own a multi-million dollar business jet, the you can read The Quest To Be The Fastest Car On Earth written by Grant Kielczewski, Managing Editor on line. It features extraordinary photos of our July 2009 test session at The Black Rock Desert, and tells the story of tenacity and resourcefulness as our team challenges the 763 mph world land speed record.

Intel Solid State Drive Videos

If  you haven't seen them yet now would be a good time to watch the videos we did with Intel promoting their indestructible Solid State Drives.

For All you F-104 Scale Model Builders

Tony Landis from NASA Dryden sent us this information. Rocketeer Decal, a manufacturer of scale model decals now offer a decal sheet that includes turning your 1/72 F-104 model with the livery of 56-0763. Cool huh?

We know a lot of our fans are on facebook.  Now the North American Eagle™ is on facebook!   In fact many of our team members are also!  Tell your friends! It's fun!

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