 |
St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 August 2017 |
From The President - By Charley
Dear Members:
Thanks to Steve and Larry for replacing the Cessna winch and cable last week. It certainly makes it easier to get the Cessna back in the hanger if you are single handed.
Thanks also to everyone for your quick response to our vote on the autopilot selection earlier this month. John has ordered all of the equipment but due to a much higher demand than Garmin had forecast, the G5 displays will arrive at the end Oct and the autopilot hardware will arrive end Nov. The GTN-750 arrived and we were able to apply for the $500 Oshkosh rebate. I am glad we placed the order just after the vote was complete!
As a reminder, the driver of this upgrade to the Cessna is our 430 GPS that was introduced in 1998 is near capacity and out of production which will limits Garmin ability to support it and make future upgrades. Rather than wait until something significant goes wrong with the 430, and then hurry to find a replacement solution we decided to pursue a new GPS unit now. This not only avoids an emergency selection of a replacement but allows us to maximize the resale value of our 430 GPS.
Over the years, many members have expressed a strong desire for at least a wing leveler in the Cessna which would improve the plane’s Instrument flight capability and safety. Due to the accelerated STC process for safety enhancing systems adopted by the FAA, the new autopilots released this year will provide a full suite of features for far less than we thought we would spend for just a wing leveler in the Cessna!
The G5 installed in the Citabria has proven to be a very cost effective way to reduce the expense of rebuilding Gyro instrumments, replacing vacuum pumps and filters, and other issues with a vacuum system. The G5 display provides both a primary AI flight display along with backup ground speed, airspeed, and altitude, and an HSI that supports the Garmin autopilot installation… both with a four hour battery backup! The decision to add G5’s to the Cessna provides the same long term maintenance and safety benefits that come with removal of the failure prone vacuum system and gyro instruments.
Although this seems like a large upgrade, it makes sense to do all of this at one time to minimize aircraft downtime and streamline installation. We have historically tried to consolidate large upgrades to aircraft to minimize downtime and ensure that installation is coordinated with all components. These upgrades will keep our Cessna technically relevant while improving its cross country capability for those who desire to use it that way. The plane can always be flown without the autopilot. Thanks again to John for pulling together all of the information needed to vote on this upgrade.
Please be on the lookout for dates for our Fall Club meeting. Tim will be sending out a date sometime this week. If you have topics you would like to see on the agenda, please send them to myself or any Officer for inclusion. The officers typically meet a couple of weeks before the club meeting to compile topics and finalize the agenda.
I’ve received some good suggestions for the Club Handbook, this is a last call for anything you would like to see added for current or future members. Please send me your suggestions this week if you have anything further!
Safe skies,
Charley
Treasurer's Report - by T.J
Fellow Members,
Members,
Fuel stayed the same for the 5th month in a row at $6.45 a gallon and the finances as well as aircraft usage have stabilized over the summer. For the previous three months, hours have been: 42.6, 45.7, and 38.3 for the Citabria, Cessna and Arrow, respectively. The maintenance guys are gearing up for the 750 installation in the Cessna and all is right with the world!
You will notice a new line on the balance entitled “Major Work – Work in Process.” This line is used to capture the monies spent for the aircraft upgrade, but not yet put into service. Said another way, we have reduced cash to purchase parts, but those parts have not yet increased the value of our aircraft, so we record them as a contra asset until we are done and can revalue the Cessna with the new avionics. This is done as to not unfairly reduce share value while the work is being completed. It’s also a good way for each member to see exactly what we have spent to date on our approved improvements.
Please don’t hesitate to send questions.
Blue Skies
TJ
Maintenance - by John 
N8746V Citabria 7ECA
Oil Analysis Results - The oil sample was analyzed and the results were normal.
Main Wheel Tires - The RH Main wheel inner tube filler neck failed during taxi and caused the tire to go flat. Airport maintenance put the RH tire on a dolly and moved the airplane to unused taxiway area so we could change the RH tire and tube there. We ended up changing both the RH and LH main wheel tire and tubes.
N20843 Cessna 172M
No maintenance Issues to report this month.
N2242N Piper Arrow IV
Oil Change - On Aug 31, we changed the oil and filter, and cleaned, gapped and rotated the spark plugs. We also adjusted the steering linkage to reduce a slight tendency to turn while taxing. The engine now has 100 hours on it since overhaul, and we checked it over to make sure all the bolts/nuts were tight. The oil filler neck was also tightened and re-safetied as there was a small oil leak at the base of the filler neck.
Copyright © 2017, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated August 2017
.