Ladies and Gentlemen:
It was a beautiful day in Spanaway as team members Chris Greene, Rhiley Sparks, Rich Pengelley, Omar Chramosta, John Winchester, Sam Yellowbird, Alex Shadle, Keith Zanghi and Ed Shadle once again met to work on the North American Eagle™. Joining the seasoned veterans today were two new members, Susan West and Brandyn Bayes.
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Rich, Alex, Rhiley, Sam and Chris worked on the mid-wheel doublers. John came by to give an update on a new 7.5′ diameter high speed parachute.
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Aerodynamics Team Meets
Earlier in the week Ron Doll and Darren Grove met with Bill Eckberg, Steve Wallace, Don Mitchell, Keith and Ed to give an update on the aerodynamic work. It was a very productive meeting and a test plan will be written to incorporate measurements to be taken during our upcoming test runs to refine the data.
New Team Member – Susan West
We are happy to announce that Susan West will be joining Team North American Eagle™ as our new Director of Media and Public Relations.
Most Puget Sound residents will know Susan because she was a former TV News Reporter at KOMO TV, Q13 Fox News and Northwest Cable News with substantial experience in covering breaking news, storms and human interest stories.
She is a fill-in instructor at University of Washington focusing on public relations and social media in business. Always interested in teaching media relations, social media and journalism.
Susan is a graduate student at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. pursuing a Master’s degree in Strategic Public Relations in Government and Management. Specializing in crisis communications, issues management, public affairs, corporate Social Responsibility, internal and external communications and social media. She also comes from an aviation background. Her father is a retired Air Force pilot and her brother is an engineer, currently working for Boeing. Click on the video below showing her work on KOMO TV, the ABC Affiliate in Seattle.
Susan is an accomplished equestrian and has enjoyed the pleasure of pulling 9 G’s in the back seat of an F-16, flown by the USAF Thunderbirds. One of the perks of a news reporter! Watch the story in the video below.
New Team Member – Brandyn Bayes
Brandyn Bayes is another one of our young team members joining Chris Greene, Austin Waage, and Rhiley Sparks. Brandyn was instrumental in the programming for Chris and Keith during this years FIRST Robotics competition. Following in the footsteps of his father, he is a proficient programmer in C++, Java and writes his own software applications. For fun he designs and builds websites for people. It is no surprise to find out he wants to be a Software Engineer when he grows up, just like his dad!
Brandyn will be building some prototype websites, working closely with our webmaster Jon Higley and Trisha Woods. It will all be a part of his schools volunteerism in the community. Just like our current students on the project and former interns like Ryan Mower and Bryce Ockerman, Team North American Eagle™ is giving the youth of today real world experience that they can use in the future.
New Sponsor IMS Software
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As we mentioned last week, IMS Software has join the team. Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Andy Brewster flew in from Massachusetts and met with Don Mitchell, Keith and Ed. IMSpost, the worlds most advanced postprocessing software, transforms CAD/CAM cutter location (Clfiles) into the specific machine codes (G/M codes) required by NC machines.
IMSpost works seamlessly with Dassault Systèmes CATIA Software, Lenovo ThinkStations, and NC machines, in one easy to use interface. Look for a formal announcement soon.
Ed Headed to Vancouver, B.C.
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On Sunday, Ed will be traveling to Vancouver BC, Canada to attend the 118th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition. American Society for Engineering Education is a non-profit organization which brings together engineering educators from all of the engineering and engineering technology fields to collaborate on solutions to promote excellence in instruction, research, public service, and practice.
Jon Higley (Lt.) and Russ Garlow (Rt.)
Ed will be talking about how North American Eagle™ engineers use their imagination and analytical skills to invent, design, and build the 56 foot long, 45,500 hp vehicle.
He will also be networking with the world’s leading engineering educators and see how we can partner and enhance our Education Outreach Program. Created by Jon Higley using the Eagle as the hook, this program travels to schools focusing on STEM classes (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) using PowerPoint Presentations, followed by a Q&A period. Jon, Russ Garlow and Bernard McVay have presented to schools all over the Pacific Northwest, including Canada and Oregon.
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Ed will be at the Hewlett Packard Graphing and Scientific Calculators Booth. He will be talking to attendees about the Eagle and how our engineers use the HP 50g Graphing and Scientific Calculatorto build the world’s fastest automobile. On display will be our world traveling model complete with new decals supplied by Signs By Tomorrow, Houston South.
Leslie Porterfield New Co-Driver
Big news in the past few weeks has been the addition of Leslie Porterfield to Team North American Eagle™ as new co-driver. Leslie already holds the title of world’s fastest woman on two wheels and will now do the same, later this fall, for automobiles.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of such a dynamic team. I am honored to be part of their mission to go after the absolute unlimited land speed record. This is an opportunity of a lifetime!” Ms. Porterfield states.
The team was also all for the decision by Leslie Porterfield, holder of multiple Guinness Book of Speed Records on motorcycles, to join the team and strive for the world land speed record for women in a different class. Leslie will be piloting the North American Eagle™ during some future test runs. Welcome aboard, Leslie! You rule on two wheels…..go for it on five wheels with a jet engine throttle in hand.
To read more about Leslie visit her website atwww.LesliePorterfield.com.
Col Joe Kittinger Book
Friend and consultant to the North American Eagle™ Col Joe Kittinger’s book, Come Up and Get Me is now available in softcover from Amazon.com. The hardcover version is nearly sold out with copies going on Borders for over $200! If you haven’t got your copy yet now would be the time while supplies last. The softcover is now being sold, along with a Kindle version.