Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

September 17, 2005

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Once again the NAE™ was busy with lots of activity. Present today were Ed Shadle, Keith Zanghi, Jon Higley, Russell Garlow, Bill Eckberg, Bernard McVay, Steve Wallace, John Zambrano, Dave Selby, Von Armstrong, Earl Gratzer, John Drury, Omar Chramosta, and Jamie Greaves with his friend.

Visitors today were Lauren Wallace and her boyfriend Justin Arnold. Libby Wallace, Lauren's mom, brought them to see how the project was doing while they were here in the northwest as temporary evacuees from the New Orleans area and the recent Hurricane Katrina mess.

Other important visitors were Tony Landis and his friend Cheryl. Tony is a longtime friend of the NAE™ as the archivist for NASA who provided the team with information that revealed 56-0763 used to be flown by Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield, and other famous test pilots while a chase plane at Edwards AFB for the early space program of NASA. Tony and Cheryl were given the grand tour of the shop and Ed, Keith and Jon shared several stories with them about the people we've met over the past eight years of the project.

The bulk of the work performed today was involving the hydraulic system. New stainless steel tubing was bent and run forward and aft by Bill Eckberg, Jamie Greaves and friend from the newly modified hydraulic reservoir that was installed by Bernard into the mid-body compartment. Meanwhile just behind the cockpit, Ed Shadle was finishing up the placement of a new floor pan which will hold the data acquisition hardware in the e-bay. This was possible after repairs were completed on the original flooring by Cameron Shadle earlier in the month.

Steve Wallace completed the sensor wiring from the data aquisition system to the sensors located on the main spars, rear axle, speed brakes, magnetic brakes, wheel tachometers, engine vibration, both mid-wheels, and the parachutes. Everything's ready for the engine installation and upcoming test runs. Keith Zanghi brought the poster he'd had done up at the local Kinkos and was placing them into frames to give to various sponsors who've done such a great job of supporting our project.

John Drury and Omar Charmosta worked on finishing tasks to prepare the Lev-X tractor for the long haul south coming next month. New air hoses replaced old ones, and contacts for the sensors on the engine were cleaned for maximum operability.

While Bernard got the hydraulic tank installed into the mid-body compartment, Dave Selby and John Zambrano worked on installing the hydraulic pump that will generate the pressure needed to operate the air brake doors. It was discovered that the spline which transfers torque from the engine to the pump was a skosh too long, so Jon Higley had to take it up to Tim Finley's machine shop in Seattle to have the end shaved off. Selby will install it in the morning.

So, at this point it appears our modification process is on schedule for next month. Once the engine is reinstalled, an engine test will be in order - probably at our local airfield again - and we'll be ready to load her up into the trailer for the trip south near the end of next month to appear at the Edwards AFB Open House.

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