Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

October 11, 2005

Ladies & Gentlemen:

"If it was easy, everyone would be doing it." Bernard McVay

Tuesday - October 11th

Even though it was a Tuesday, Omar Chramosta, Dave Selby, John Zambrano, Tim Finley, Bernard McVay, Keith Zanghi, Steve Wallace, Von Armstrong, Sean Rondestvedt, Scott Robertson, Dave Wheeler and Ed Shadle spent most of the day preparing the car for a planned engine start up to test hydraulic and electrical systems prior to traveling to Edwards Air Force Base.

The day began at sunrise as Bernard and Tim had already spent the night at the Schenk Ranch RV Campground. By 9:00 the hangar was bustling with activity.

Dave and Scott from Rapp Hydema finished up some final connections for the entirely newly plumbed hydraulic system. With over 500 feet of new stainless steel tubing, hoses, valves and fittings supplied by Rapp Hydema, the two had to do the final hook up to the Hydraulic Repair and Design's auxiliary 28 volt electric hydraulic pump and front steering unit.

Tim spent the first part of the morning completing the installation of our new Spencer Aircraft Radio and antenna.  The new system will be much stronger and have the option to plug in our David Clark Headsets during engine startups.

Bernard, Von, Omar, Keith, Sean and Ed spent the morning assembling the McVay Mobilizer, the 150 Gallon AFFF Foam Firefighting equipment and fueling the American Valley Aviation AVA M32-60B Turbine Powered Start Cart.

This would be the first time the team started the car at the Shady Acres Residential Airpark. So, first order of business was to contact the neighbors and warn them of the impending smoke and thunder show.  Keith headed out on foot and met with every neighbor. As you would expect from someone that lives on an airport, they gave an overwhelming approval and many asked if they could watch.  Ed contacted the local fire and police departments in case some of the neighboring counties called in a low flying jet.  With everyone giving approval, the team proceeded to install the rear axle assembly, load the car up on the McVay Mobilizer, and push it out into the bright October sun.

It was a great day and couldn't have been planned for better weather. First order of business was to attach our DANTRAWL supplied 5/8 inch cable. One end was attached to the vehicle arresting hook, while the other was secured to the back of the LEVX™ Transporter.

With Bill Eckberg at work, crew chief responsibilities went to Dave Selby. John Zambrano first blew off the taxiway with the AVA M32A-60B start cart hose, clearing all debris that could possibly be sucked into the 42,500 hp S&S Turbine Services, Ltd. jet engine. Bernard assumed his position at the start cart, while Sean and Von stood by on fire watch. With everyone in place, Dave gave the signal and Bernard began the start cart, bringing the monster engine in the Eagle to a clean start.

Upon reaching idle, Ed proceeded to check the hydraulic systems.  First we checked the front hydraulic suspension which worked great. Then he went on to check the air brakes. At that point we couldn't seem to make the F-104 dive brakes open properly. Scott from Rapp Hydema sat inside the re-located hydraulics bay and did what he could to correct the problem, but finally exhausted his options and motioned for Dave to stop the engine.

After a post session discussion, we think we know why the hydraulic doors did not open. On Friday Scott and Dave will begin correcting the problem and we'll do another test on Saturday to verify operations.

Thursday - October 13th

Ed Shadle spent most of the day driving to Canada and back. He delivered some hydraulic cylinders built by Dave Gregory for use on the LevX™ Magnetic Braking.  Steve Green at Eagle Machine, Inc. is building the unique one of a kind axle and brake assembly. The unit utilizes 27 neodymium iron boron rare earth magnets.  The eddy currents are generated when the magnets are moved towards the aluminum rotors, creating eddy currents which cause resistance. This resistance will be used to scrub off the huge amount of kinetic energy generated with the large rotating aluminum wheels.

Long Hours

Since the previous Tuesday, NAE™ Team members have put in over 560 man hours in the 7 day period.  This doesn't include all the hours put in by Steve Green and his crew at Eagle Machine, Inc., or Jerry Lamb and his team at LEV X™, Daryle Redlin at Kodiak Motorsports in Abbottsford BC, Scott and Dave from Rapp Hydema and Dave Gregory,  another one of our hydraulics experts have also put in an incredible number of hours getting work done on the Eagle.  Look for additional updates this weekend as we work towards getting the car loaded into the trailer.

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