Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

September 15, 2007

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Today's work party saw Ed Shadle, Keith Zanghi, Von Armstrong, Steve Wallace, John Drury, Sean Rondestvedt, Eric Helpenstell, Tim Finley and his trusty dog Meeko, Omar Chramosta, Sam Yellowbird, Scott Robertson, Bernard McVay, Rex Walter, Rob Martinson,  John Winchester, Marty Schenck and Jon Higley on hand to get tasks done.

The team started preparations for our upcoming test sessions.  We loaded the American Valley Aviation M32-60B start cart into the back of the Eagle Machine, Inc trailer.    To make the job easier, we loaded the AVA Start Cart on the back of the new support truck donated by Rich Pengelley and repainted by Sam Yellowbird at One More Time Supply.   Bill and Bernard McVay at McVay’s Mobile Welding have been assembling all the components of the new support truck.  New additions this week were the custom roll bars.  In the upcoming week, Powder Coatings Inc will put a bullet proof powder coat finish on them.  Plans are now to use the new support truck to lay down the white lines that Ed will be following during our test sessions.

In addition the team loaded our two AFFF fire fighting systems into the trailer.  Each of the fire extinguishing systems can lay down almost five minutes worth of fire retardant AFFF foam.  Each are pressurized using Northwest Sports Divers scuba tank and regulators.

Von, Jon and Keith traveled to the local Boeing scrap wood yard and picked up three heavy duty wooden boxes that will be used to store our new high speed wheels.  Uremet Corporation is machining the rear wheels and Eagle Machine, Inc is doing the front and mid-wheels.  Work is progressing well on these items.  Eagle Machine, Inc is also building a new rear axle assembly for the Eagle.  John Mittleider has been doing extensive engineering on the wheels.  He has been working a lot of hours at home finalizing the design. In addition, the new wheels will have completely new bearings and will require new spindles.  The plan is now to remove the LevX® Magnetic braking off our low speed axle (< 350 MPH) assembly and use it on the new high speed axle.

John Winchester dropped by to get an approval on the new deployment bags for our Aerial Machine and Tool sponsored parachutes.  The new high speed parachutes will be used for the very first time in our next test session.  Using patterns and notes from Ed Drumheller II, John is assembling the new bags and will have them ready for a test firing next week.   Cortland® Puget Sound Rope is supplying all the parachute lines.  Using their High Performance Plasma®12-Strand, this material is the much stronger than the nylon webbing used in the past for parachute systems.  Cortland® Puget Sound Rope is the world leader in ropes for the Heavy Marine, Offshore Oil and Industrial Applications.   Some day every Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car and Aerospace Applications will use these high performance ropes.  Team North American Eagle™ is pioneering new ground using technology developed here in Washington State.

Steve and Tim worked on the electrical system.  Today the two tested our new Falcon® Electric Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) by connecting to our AVA M32-60B start cart which provides 400 cycle power.  The UPS will be an integral part to protect our PCB Piezotronics data acquisition system when the car switches from external power to internal power generated by the S&S Turbine Services Ltd turbo-jet engine.  In addition, should we have a power failure, key information will be preserved with our Falcon® Electric UPS.  The valuable information gathered during the run is vital to the safety of the project.

Scott Robertson worked on the hydraulic steering system. We replaced a bunch lines and connections and simplified it using pre-cut rubber hoses.  It was kind of an expensive change, but will make the system easier to work on.  Ed and Omar worked on the linkage for the steering valve.  Earlier in the week Omar came by the hanger and spent some time rebuilding the air inlet covers.  This will be important when we hit the Black Rock Playa.  Everyday like clockwork dust storms fill every exposed surface with the fine dust.

John, Eric and Sam worked on the LevX® Tractor getting it ready for Black Rock.  Sam spent some time removing the old decals off of the Eagle Machine, Inc. trailer.  He got a good start and will come by later in the week to do some more.

Russell Garlow brought a friend from his work at Boeing with him later in the afternoon; arriving in a Ferrari. Lemuel Charleston, his wife and two children visited the hangar to learn about the project and walked away fascinated.

Varying combinations of team members spent the day working on hydraulics, electronics, parachutes, rear suspension and several other items throughout the day.

The team held another sit down meeting where all aspects of the coming test session were discussed. The planning and logistics are getting more complex each new session. Over the next month several parts of the project will have to occur with precision timing.

This upcoming week has Ed and Keith giving a presentation at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.   The Seattle Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society is sponsoring the event.  The two will speak in the large theater.  It is free to the public.  The event starts at 6 PM.  Come by and say hello.

Later in the year Ed, Keith and Steve will be traveling to Paris, France as guest of Dassault Systèmes and will be speaking at the European CATIA Forum 2007.  The event takes place on November 6th and 7th.   Earlier this year in Las Vegas the trio spoke at the IBM / Dassault Systèmes PLM Summit.  Dassault Systèmes is a major sponsor on the project.  Using their premier product CATIA V5, the team has many of it’s engineers are working virtual designing of the complex details and assemblies.  Eagle Machine, Inc uses Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks to design our high speed wheels.

Those over 50 can look forward to the October issue of AARP Magazine.  This month features Ed Shadle.   Look for the issue with Tony Bennett on the cover.

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