Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

September 29, 2007

Ladies & Gentlemen:

Today's work party saw Ed Shadle, Keith Zanghi, Jon Higley, Bill Eckberg, Steve Wallace, Sean Rondestvedt, John Drury, Tim Finley and his trusty dog Meeko, John Winchester, Eric McClain, Eric Helpenstell, Von Armstrong, Dave Selby, Sam Yellowbird, Omar Chramosta, and Gino present to complete several unfinished tasks in preparation for our upcoming trip.

Steve spent the day assembling the motherboard and data sensors that will be used to gather air pressure measurements around the car. While he was doing that, Tim installed the sensors themselves around the vehicle at 16 locations.  The data will feed directly into the PCB Piezotronics data acquisition system.   The measurements will be used to verify the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies Mike Thoe, Rex Water and Ron Doll are working on.  Last week, Tim created the circuit boards at his machine shop at home.  Today Steve soldered all the components together.
 
As we increase our speeds and get closer to the transonic regime, we need to understand what the vehicle is experiencing aerodynamically.  To do this, we are integrating into the vehicle's skin multiple air pressure ports that will allow us to collect the data for later analysis and to verify our CFD work.   The NAE™ is a rolling laboratory.

Ed, Keith, John, and Sean worked together to figure out how to mount the air cushions onto the rear travel axle. This will absorb shock during road travel and keep the mass of the car from being jolted around too much. Jon, Sean and Eric H. got the front wheel well suspension frame and aircraft tire reinstalled on the car for transport in the trailer. Ed finished connecting the steering linkage in the front of the cockpit floor near the bulkhead.

120 miles North at Eagle Machine, Inc, great progress was made on the front and mid-wheels.  They are now complete.  Using Dassault Systèmes software CATIA V5 and Solidworks, the team has produced a high quality product.   Extensive engineering was performed by John Mittleider for the last two months in preparation of the machine work.

Meanwhile, 1,100 miles South, Mark Moore continues work on the rear wheels.  UREMET Corporation is building the rear wheels and will ship them about mid-week.

Plus, way down in Texas, John and Lisa Thor at Signs By Tomorrow in Houston South have been making a whole bunch of new decals for the car.  By the time the cameras start rolling for our Nevada Test Runs, people will see a whole new look for the NAE™.  Sam Yellowbird from One More Time Supply buffed and waxed the car using WHATASHINE Products in preparation for the decals.

Keith, Von, Jon and Gino took the wooden crates which will hold the new metal wheels during transport and painted their exterior and stenciled them to identify them as NAE™ property.

Ed worked on the new stainless steel chute tubes to prepare them for a test of the high speed parachute discharge device we'll be using at speeds around 600 mph. After John Winchester packed the 150' Puget Sound Rope riser line into the top of the deployment bag, along with the Aerial Machine and Tool sponsored parachute, it was placed into the tube and taken outside of the hangar to conduct a static test. The purpose of the test was to measure how efficiently the device would propel the bag out of the tube.

After placing the tube packed with the chute bag on an inclined ramp, electrical wires were connected and a test firing was done of the device. It worked perfectly. To view a short video of this test click here.

After the test, the team gathered in the hangar to once again get an update on the status of things regarding preparations for the trip and test session. Much more details will be done during the coming two weeks to get everything ready.

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