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Ladies and Gentlemen:

In the two weeks following the holidays, Team North American Eagle™ is back at it again in preparation for our next test session later this spring.  Chris Greene, Omar Chramosta, Von Armstrong, Steve Wallace, John Winchester, Sam Yellowbird, Larry Martinson, Eric Helpenstell, Bill Eckberg, Sean Rondestvedt, Rich Pengelley, John Drury, Jon Higley, Keith Zanghi, Ed Shadle and our new intern Daniel Tunnell have been busy performing preventative maintenance and planning for an early summer return to the desert.

Steve, Peter, John Drury, Von, Eric and Keith have reconditioning the rear axle assembly manufactured by Eagle Machine, Inc in Abbottsford BC.  Sandblasted by our latest test session at Black Rock in early November last year, the finish had been obliterated and needed a much deserved repainting.  The team repainted all steel components and brought all hydraulic lines to near new condition. 

Wheels were removed and bearings inspected and were found to be in excellent condition.  The seals designed and installed by Eagle Machine, Inc worked flawlessly as not even a speck of Black Rock dust could be found on the inner pack.  Next week the team will re-install the wheels and we will be ready to run again!

The team also removed the front wheel assembly and inspected all components including the front suspension, steering, brake and electronic data acquisition systems.  We temporarily installed our rubber front wheel while working in the shop.

Steve has been fine tuning our data acquisition system.  The PCB Piezotronics / Larson Davis Data Acquisition System is integrated with our Topcon GPS unit.  All running through our Lenovo ThinkStation with Intel SSD (Solid State Drive) on board and finally sent through the airwaves with Tropos IP Broadband Mesh Networks.  The data is picked up by a series of Tropos Antennas located every few miles.  These units are powered by the very reliable Interstate Batteries / Optima Batteries Blue and Yellow Top Batteries.  Steve has built a test stand using Space Age Controls air data sensors that he will use to calibrate the canard control.

John Winchester has been fine tuning the parachute systems.  Parachutes manufactured by Thomas Aerospace and Aerial Machine and Tool have been repacked in their respective deployment  bags and are ready to go.

On the Newsstands - GPS World
Team North American Eagle is pleased to announce that it has made the front cover of the January 2010 issue of GPS World Magazine.  Written by Don Talend, you can read about how the Eagle has integrated the Topcon GPS unit into the vehicle.

Upcoming Weeks
In the next few weeks the team will be busy removing the S&S Turbine Services LM 1500 Turbojet engine to perform preventative maintenance and give it a thorough inspection.

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.

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!

We invite you to add a comment, or remark, about our program or the site.

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