“Blue Thunder II Crew Report” October and November, 2010

The Blue Thunder Air Racing Team is starting the planning of the air shows appearance schedule for the Thunder Mustang named Blue Thunder II. Sponsors desiring the appearance of Blue Thunder II at any specific event are invited to contact us through the Blue Thunder web page. www.bluethunderairracing.com

Due to other commits I have had lately, very little has been done with Blue Thunder II in the last two months; so, I am combining the October and November reports. First, the Team hopes everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving and we want to be one of the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Blue Thunder II is going into the winter time refurbishing cycle where we want to update the exterior, the electronics as well as a through conditional inspection. I am taking the Reno engine down to RFI next week for disassembly, inspection and to salvage as many parts as possible. The remainder of the engine plan for Reno 2011 is still in negotiation.

Our tentative air show schedule for 2011 is as follows:

June 10-11: Golden West
June 16-18: Pylon School
July 6-10: Arlington Fly-In
July 25-31: EAA AirVenture
September 14-18: Reno Air Races
October 20-22: Copperstate

We will add additional or specific shows at a sponsor request.

A tradition started in the last Blue Report of highlighting one of our sponsors in each report; I wish to continue by show casing Odyssey Batteries.

Odyssey batteries are manufactured by EnerSys Corp., a global leader in stored energy solutions with sales and service locations throughout the world, and over 100 years of battery experience.

They are made with flat plate of 99.99% pure lead separated by absorbed glass mat (AGM). Pure lead plates can be made thinner which yields more surface area per unit volume. They are capable of providing engine cranking pulses in excess of 2250 amps for 5 seconds even at very low temperatures. They are rated for 400 charge-discharge cycles to 80% depth of discharge. This combination of power and deep cycle performance makes this battery suitable for special use aircraft that have electrical systems that are battery powered only, and why we use them.

In the next report, I will describe the progress on the conditional inspection and hopefully have some good news about an engine program for Reno 2011. Again, the Blue Crew along with Jan and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Thanks for your support.

John Parker

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