Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

June 2, 1997

Ladies & Gentlemen:

The North American Eagle™ (NAE) Team went to work on details and preparation for the scheduled weekend event. In the meantime Security Race Products, Al LaPointe was hurriedly building a new fire suit for Les. Our volunteer, Dave Haller, was also working with Small and Sons Fuel Company in Shelton, Washington to get some jet fuel for our runs. By the close of Friday we had worked out the final details of usage of the Toledo Airport where Bob Berry, the airport manager, cleared it with the board of directors. Slim Lawson, the manager of the Spanaway Airport, Spanaway, Washington loaned us the necessary radio equipment for air traffic control. Velvet Andrews with Northwest Cable News was on alert to come to the test runs and get some news coverage. All the arrangements were made and we were ready.

Saturday, Keith Zanghi picked up the fire suit from Security Race products. 32 hours turnaround to get a custom suit built for our driver, wow! If you ever need service like that, call SRP at (206) 226-1586. I drove to Olympia to pick up the jet fuel that was donated to us from Don Small and Sons. Then the rains came! I called everyone on my list and told them to hold. The FAA weather report was not good so we scrubbed the Saturday test runs.

Sunday, June 1. Everyone involved headed for the Toledo Airport. After the team got situated and the NAE unloaded we got busy packing our four parachutes and checking out systems. The new fire suit fit perfectly and it was pretty. The news camera was capturing the details and we were almost ready to tow the NAE™ out for the first test run and then the skies opened up on us. We huddled inside the trailer, watched and waited. Finally the news crew had to leave because of their deadline for news editing. They were so impressed with the project that they said they will be back to capture our test runs in the near future. After another two hour wait, we finally got a window of good weather. We fired up the North American Eagle made a quick 100 yard dash at 100% power and coasted the rest of the 5000 feet. The team started getting ready for next run, but this time it was to be a 1000 feet at 100% and no afterburner. Then the rains came, again! This time it was like as South Texas monsoon. We waited for two hours and it wouldn't let up. We finally packed up, Made notes of items to be worked on and went home.

Prognosis! The NAE™ runs and drives beautifully. We have a few details to work on before the next test session. We will schedule another weekend at Toledo Airport and get some more seat time for our driver. Next time we might also put a passenger in the back seat.

Ed Shadle, Project Manager

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