Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

January 29, 2005

Ladies & Gentlemen:

The weekend ritual continued as Bernard and Dennis McVay, Earl Gratzer, Bill Eckberg, Sean Rondestvedt, Steve Wallace, Von Armstrong, Ed Drumheller II, Jon Higley,  Tim Finley, Ed Shadle and Keith Zanghi showed up today to perform more work on the North American Eagle™.

Dennis McVay picked the short straw, so he was tasked with the dirtiest job of the day of having to paint the mid-axle bay.  After applying a coat of white paint to the interior panels we were all left wondering what had more paint: The Eagle or Dennis’s hair!.  He did a great job and will finish it up next week.

Even though Christmas has been over for a month, Steve Wallace was all smiles as he open up his box of PCB Piezotronics.  In the coming weeks he will be installing the all the sensors and connecting them to the Larson Davis PC based data acquisition system.  PCB Piezotronics is supplying the accelerometers, force sensors, load cells, microphones, pressure transducers, strain sensors and vibration sensors that will send signals to our data acquisition system.  PCB Piezotronics will play a big role in our quest to break the world landspeed record.

Bernard was busy during the day on a number of projects.  First he built a dolly for our Foam Fire Extinguisher.  The extinguisher is quite heavy and the cart will now make it a lot easier moving around the shop.  He removed a faulty exhaust manifold sensor that was discovered on the LevX® Volvo tractor while being driven back to the shop last week. He also spent some time checking all the fittings for the hydraulics system of "the beast".  The hydraulic tubing is in a high vibration area and we wanted to verify that everything was still snug.

Up North in Abbottsford, BC Steve Green at Eagle Machine, Inc. has been modifying our existing rear axle assembly.  He is adding rear disk brakes for our low speed runs.  For safety it was felt having brakes on the rear was a good idea when testing on short runways. Kodiak Motorsports is helping Steve with this work.  This setup however will not be used for the high speed runs.  For that we will utilize the LevX® magnetic braking.  Steve is building an entirely different axle for that iteration.  We’ll try to get you some photos for next week.

Ed and Keith worked on the Hydraulic Repair and Design steering unit.  When we were testing at Spanaway we found we just didn’t have enough steering on the car's front wheel.  After further investigation we discovered that the linkage geometry going to the hydraulic steering unit was incorrect.   We think we can correct the problem by installing a higher volume pump.   We’ll work on that during the week.

With the help of Sean and Von, Ed II completed the brand new inlet duct covers.  The new covers will replace the old worn out surplus ones we used before.  Now that the engine is installed it is important the inlet ducts are protected.  The new covers are embroidered and feature the US and Canadian Flags.

Sean, Von and Earl continued our “floor jack rebuilding initiative.”  Over the years they have become so weak they can hardly lift themselves.  We have them all fixed now except for one.

Earl climbed up into the race car transporter and greased the internal hydraulic bridge crane that is use to bring the Eagle in and out of the trailer.  Another messy job  (He got the second shortest straw of the day).  Our McVay Mobile Welding mobilizer used to tow the Eagle is being sandblasted and will return next week for painting.

Jon Higley made a cardboard template for a rubberized cover that will be placed over the battery array in the electronics bay. This will prevent any tools from falling, or being placed near terminals from completing a circuit that could potentially create a nasty result. And finally, our webmaster and chief information officer ran some plastic bubble wrap used for packing through the sheet metal rollers! It didn’t accomplish much, but it was sure did sound exciting as the noise simulated a drive-by shooting using Oozies. Jon wishes he could use this same demonstration for his 7th grade science class students to simulate the background noise of the Big Bang. Rumor has this technique will be featured in Stephen Hawking’s new book.

Engine Update

The engine will be delayed for a couple more weeks while the S&S Turbine crew heads to California to work on engines in that part of the country.  They will return the 1st of February.  Tentatively, we are looking at the 2nd week of February when we should get the rebuilt engine back.  Discovery Canada may fly a crew in to do the filming.  Some of the team members may head north to view the engine when it is put on the test cell. 

Television Documentaries

Ed has been talking to two television production companies that are looking at the North American Eagle™ as the primary feature on a couple of one hour shows.  We can’t give specifics, but there are about 500 hoops you have to jump through before a television show goes on the air.  Right now we have jumped through just two.  The production will include narration by a well known Hollywood actor. When we hear more you’ll be the first to know.

When In The Pacific Northwest

After the work party many of the team members headed to the Jato Café for an aviation art exposition.  The Jato Café has one of the largest collections of aviation prints and paintings in the Seattle / Tacoma area.   Ed, Bernard, Dennis, Bill, Tim, Ed II and the beautiful Barbara Drumheller would like to thank the owner Steve Sherman for his hospitality.  In the future you may see some of Tim Finley’s Photographs on display at the gallery. The Jato Café is located at 1117 Broadway in heart of downtown Tacoma, Washington. 

Birthday Notes

The oldest member on the team is having a birthday this weekend.  Slim Lawson turns a youthful 85 years old.  The Washington State Aviation Hall of Fame Inductee is celebrating by having a “fly in” at the Spanaway Airport.  Slim has been helping the team from the very beginning when the Lockheed 56-0763 first arrived at his airport.  When most seniors his age are planning retirement, Slim can be found mowing the 2,700 foot Spanaway Airport grass all year long.  It is not uncommon for Slim to hop in his Cessna 150 and fly to Texas to see his daughter.  Team North American Eagle™ is proud to have Slim on the team.  Happy Birthday Slim!

That’s it for now.  See you next week.

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