Thomas

RUDDER STRENGTH TEST – February 08, 2022

RUDDER STRENGTH TEST – February 08, 2022

The Switchblade flying sports car fly-by-wire rudder system was tested and passed earlier during endurance testing, but a tear down showed that there may be an issue with a shaft connection. We...

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TEST TEAM AT WORK – January 27, 2022

TEST TEAM AT WORK – January 27, 2022

The Switchblade engine test team is hard at work wringing out the new Samson 3 engine and propeller setup. In yesterday's work, we tuned multiple times from idle up to 8,300 rpm. In the image below...

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GEARS CAME EARLY!! – January 18, 2022

GEARS CAME EARLY!! – January 18, 2022

Our final gears for the gearbox came early, so we changed gears. (Bad pun, bad!) We did pull the motor after the initial prop test and removed the gearbox case to get at the gears inside. We then...

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BYPASS VALVE INSTALLED – January 07, 2022

BYPASS VALVE INSTALLED – January 07, 2022

One of the systems in the Switchblade engine is a bypass for compressed air coming out of the turbo, enroute to the intake manifold. When the throttle is closed quickly, the bypass valve recycles...

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MORE PROGRESS – January 04, 2022

MORE PROGRESS – January 04, 2022

We mounted the remote water pump (black object in lower right corner of the image), and added temporary hose clamps to the intercooler piping. These clamps can be used for flight, but we may replace...

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