Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

October 9, 2003

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Recently Ed, Keith, Ed II and Marty met with Dan Hirsh from Olympus Industrial. Better known for their popular Olympus Cameras, Olympus Industrial manufactures highly specialized equipment such as borescopes and other optical gathering devices. One item they produce is a high speed video camera. This high speed, high quality imaging system can record up to 33,000 fps (frames per second).

This piece of equipment is critical to the safety of the North American Eagle by analyzing the deployment of the high speed parachutes. The actual event ofparachute deployment takes about one second for the chute to be fired from a sabot (a small mortar) to full opening. Following each run Ed Drumheller II will analyze the video and make adjustments as required to ensure a safe parachute opening. The software that comes with the equipment allows analog inputs so we can record additional measurements in real time.

For the millions of fans that tune in to view the record runs, watching the chute deployment in slow motion will be both exciting and educational. The aerospace industry will benefit from the research. New insight will be gained from high speed parachute design to aid in the further development of spin recovery systems for jet fighters and aircraft flight test programs. For the team, high speed, high quality video is just one of the ways the North American Eagle will maintain safety. For more information including demonstrations, you can visit Olympus Industrial Website, or you can email Dan Hirsh.

On another technological note, Steve Wallace, our team scientist in charge of data acquisition, has been collecting data with various pieces of equipment in order to establish sufficient information about the rear suspension. He plans to make some recommendations as to what, if any work may need to be done to make the vehicle safe. More information will be shared about this later. Below are a few pictures of Steve at work while at the fair.

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