"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 21 April 2002

From The President - By Mike Piccirilli

Dear Members,

Thanks in advance to those of you able to help with the annual.. With the F-15K winning the Korean competition, John may have to be in Korea during the annual. While this will mean probably delaying the improvements being performed during the annual, we hopfully can get the them done some time in the near future. I also will be out of town during the annual on a trip to Pennsylvania.

Thanks to Jeff for supplying the step ladder. It is a welcome addition. In addition Jeff suggested padding the tow bar. I certainly see no harm and it sounds like a good idea. Go for it Jeff!

Happy Landings!
Pic

Treasurer's Report - by Marlin Sipe

With the expenses of paint and cooling fan, the Adjusted Treasury took a step back, as would be expected. Without those, we could have had an increase of about $150.

The cost of fuel took a jump. The most recent receipts from JetCorp show it as $2.80/gallon. I have not compared that to MillionAir. With the increased fuel rate, we may consider raising the hourly flying cost accordingly, as we did in the past.

As I have done the last few years at this time, here's a list of hours flown by each person over the past 36 months.

Flight times for the past 36 months

Member Hours 2001-2002 Hours 2000-2001 Hours 1999-2000

Ganahl - 2.7 1.9

Graklanoff - - 7.3

Heilmann 15.3 11.8 6.4

Michal 17.7 24.0 22.5

Piccirilli 4.0 6.7 9.3

Russell 5.6 5.8 9.1

Schubert 36.5 15.8 -

Sipe 47.4 38.4 41.5

Skyles 8.4 14.2 12.2

Maintenance 3.8 1.1 1.5

Total 138.7 123.1 111.7

Maintenance - by John Heilmann

Annual Inspection - The annual will be conducted at C&D Aviation at St Charles County (Smartt) airport starting Friday, April 26th. We are making arrangements to get the plane over to C&D on Friday morning and will then start the annual and other maintenance actions. If no major issues are found that require ordering parts, we should be able to finish up the annual on Saturday. Updates on exact times will be sent by email as the details are finalized.

We have received the cooling fan and intercom and have ordered a few other items needed for the installation. We were planning to install them after the annual but this will have to be delayed. Boeing won the F-15K sale to Korea and I have to go back to Korea for the final contract negotiations on Sunday, April 28th. We will plan all the improvement installation details (where we want the headphone and mic jacks located) while the aircraft is open for the annual so we can make sure we have all the parts (clamps, bolts, nuts, etc.) that we need.

Here are some of the items we plan to address during the annual:

Reseal the crack in the gap seal around the passenger's wing root.
Replace the alternator belt.
Lubricate the baggage door lock. Consider replacing if it still is hard to work.
Look at the carb heat control to see if it is OK.
Check the rigging of the ailerons.
Blend any nicks on the prop.
Replace the pilot's side tire and regrease all the wheel bearings.

Medical/BFR Status - by Michael Todd

Several Medicals are going to be due in the next few months.

Marlin Sipe: Medical due in May
Todd Michal: Medical due in May
Jeff Schubert: Medical due in May

Please let me know when you renew your medical or BFR so I can keep the records up to date.

North American Top Gun

If you ever wanted to fly a WWII era aircraft, you can schedule a flight in a T-6 between May 10-19 at the Greenville Airport in Illinois . They will be offering flights in the 600 hp "Texan" ranging from a 15 minute introductory flight to a one hour air combat manuevering flight. Cost for the introductory flight is $190 and the other flights vary depeding on the length and content. See theNorth American Top Gun Website for all the details. If you are interested, you can call them at 800-257-1636 or by email at: rep@natg.com

With our club being formed in 1942 to help train pilots for WWII, many of our early club members may have flown the T-6 Texan before going off to war. Even if you don't plan to fly in it, it may be fun to fly over to Greenville Airport and watch the operation. All photos courtesey of North American Top Gun

Custom Club C-172 Model -

I found a company that will make custom C-172 models in our club paint scheme and N-number markings. The model has a wing span of 18" and will cost $35.00 and shipping from the Phillipines will cost another $30 for a total of $65.00. The models are hand made from mahogany and will be hand painted. The company is located next to Clark AFB in the Phillipines. I saw a similar model of a C-172 made by this company and it is very detailed and well made. If you want to buy a model, please let me know by email so I can place an order in May.

FAA Private and Instrument Test Questions

See how much you remember from your FAA Private Pilot and Instrument Rating Written Test by taking a quick 10 question test. Submit your answers and you will receive the correct answers and your score. (Don't worry, only you see the test results and your score.) This is a quick and easy way to keep familiar with the FARs. Use the links below and try to get a 100%:

The links above take you to Kip's FAA written Test Preparation Site. This site can be found directly at: http://w3.one.net/~kip/faatest.html

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