St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 27 August 2011

From The President - By Todd Michal

Dear Members,

The summer heat hasn't slowed down the flying, but it sure made the C172 annual a hot one, Thanks to John, Pic, Dale and anyone else that helped out for braving the heat and getting the annual completed so quickly.

The club officers met for our quarterly meeting last week, After initial discussions with other clubs, attorneys and accountants, the officers have decided to seek the help of an attorney for the club reincorporation. We have a couple of good leads for attorneys with experience in corporate law and aviation, We plan to hold an initial meeting to lay out a plan and get an estimate for the cost. If all goes well we may have a proposal ready to bring to the fall club meeting.

Continue to send your fly-in destination ideas to John. I look forward to finding some great new places to spend those flying weekends, Jeffery and I flew the Arrow to Gastons this past week end, Gastons is a resort located on the White River in Arkansas and is only about an 90 minute flight from KSUS. They have a great restaurant and plenty of cabins if you want to stay overnight, The airport has a 3200 foot grass strip that is in excellent condition. The strip is located in a valley amid the Ozark hills. I recommend you brush up on your short field skills and talk to someone that has flown to Gastons before attempting the trip. It's definitely worth the effort as the resort is beautiful.

THe website page that PIC suggested is now set up with a button to the left called "Fly-in Destinations". If you fly somewhere interesting, send John a note (with photos if available) to add to the website.

Happy Takeoffs!

Todd

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Fuel prices at TACAir in August rose by about $0.10 per gallon, which drove slight increases in the hourly flight rate. Flight hours for the month were strong at over 22 for N20843, and over 30 for N2242N.

The treasury balance has fallen significantly over the past month, reflecting annual expenses/credits during the past month, as well as reduction of some member credit balances. Even with the reduction in balance, the treasury is only about $100 below target for annual activities.

Based on information John received on tire failures, the club has reimbursed Jim O'Shea for tire / tube costs following tire blow-outs on landing that Jim paid personally. The database subscription for the Arrow was about $120 higher than the planned amount. The Improvement Fund was used to cover the shortfall, and the higher cost will be factored into the escrow computations going forward..

Fly safely!

Mike

   Maintenance - by John

N20843

• The Annual Inspection was completed on 6 August. The left main tire and tube were replaced and the panel rocker switches were replaced per Cessna Service Bulletin SEB09-6R1. The pilot and copilot seat rollers were replaced with new McFarlane Seat rollers. The oil analysis results from the annual oil change are shown below and are within normal readings.
  

• The nose wheel tube was replaced and the nose wheel bearings regressed on 17 August. The repaired and repainted nose wheel fairing was reinstalled and the weight and balance records updated accordingly.
• The new RH wing faring was installed on 24 August. The plane looks great again with the repaired nose wheel and new wing tip fairing installed.

  

N2242N

• Oil Change - The oil and filter were changed on 7 August. The spark plugs were cleaned, gapped and rotated. The brake and hydraulic pump reservoirs were serviced with hydraulic fluid.