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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 30 August 2021

From The President - By Steve

Dear Members,

Keep an eye out for our Fall meeting date. Mike will be getting that out soon and as always if you have anything you would like on the agenda please let me know. A few things to be thinking about are what we want to do with the Cessna engine (running strong with >1860hrs) and how we approach insurance. John Heilmann is putting together some information on engine options so we can be ready to act when the time comes. Regarding the insurance we opted to insure the planes for appraised value plus 10% and the premium increase required an increase in monthly dues. The Fall meeting will include a discussion on whether we continue that approach in January when we renew. Also included in the Fall meeting will be the election of officers. Please let me know if you are interested in serving. In addition to the officer positions there are other opportunities as listed on the responsibility list.

It is great to see so much flying with all the club planes, especially considering the St. Louis temps and humidity. I know my flying has been mostly early mornings to beat the heat but that will soon change. The airport restaurant in Jefferson City has finally opened and it is a nice setup with some outdoor seating and a runway view. I had a nice breakfast and I know several members have made it out there for lunch. See the PIREP on the restaurant below.

Here's to safe flying and some cooler weather.

Safe flying!

Steve

Treasurer's Report - by T.J

General Comments:

• Wow! Another 67 hours of flying this month!
• TacAir full service fuel experienced another increase in the month from $6.45 in July to $6.63 in August. Remember that this does not impact aircraft rates in the near-term, but may have an impact if any of our funds run low. I’m hopeful costs have leveled out.
• We received the invoice from the insurance company for our increases in hull value. The check was cut after 8/15 so you’ll see that impact in the August statement.
• Don’t hesitate to call with questions.

Blue Skies

TJ

BILLING STATEMENT

BALANCE SHEET

Significant Discussions:

• Maintenance Funds - All the maintenance funds are adequate and growing.
• Overall Cash - Cash is sufficient to operate into the foreseeable future.
• Aircraft Valuations - Our standard operating procedure is to revalue the aircraft on 3/15 & 9/15 of each year. However, given extraordinary market

DUES

Our current dues allocation is as follows:

Pilot Report - by Mike Landgraf

Kip & I flew down to the Landing Zone restaurant at KJEF (70nm) last Tuesday 8/17 for lunch. Short 39 minute flight in the Skyhawk. Jefferson City Flying Service guided us to a parking spot on the general aviation ramp, close to a Navy T-28 that is based there. Pretty cool. Landing Zone opened up in late July and are right on the airport in the Terminal Building on the 2nd floor. They have inside and outside seating. At the present they are only open for breakfast and lunch. They will be serving diner but the time frame for that is tbd. I had the club sandwich and Kip had the patty melt. Food was great and sandwiches were in the $10 range. If you are looking for an excuse to burn some 100LL, this would be right up there. Hours are 6am to 2pm daily, closed on Wednesday. Stay safe. ... Mike

   Maintenance - by John

N202CR RV-7A

• Oil Leak - On Aug 15th, Bill reported finding oil on the lower cowling and fairing after his flight. We took the cowls off and found an oil drain pipe thread fitting that was loose. We removed the fitting and put pipe thread sealant on it and retightened it.
• Audio Amplifier - While the plane was down for the oil leak repair, we installed a Gretz Aero audio amplifier between the G3X and audio panel that amplifies the G3X and autopilot alerts so you can now hear them. Based on several pilot reports, the alerts are now at a good level. If you want any adjustments to any of the alerts (either up or down), please let me know and we can adjust them.
• Alternate Air Door - Van's Aircraft issued an Advisory Letter that said the existing automatic alternate air door on our RV-7A could open unintentionally during high power settings which allows unfiltered air into the engine. Our old alternate air door was held down by a magnet and there were also reports of the magnet coming loose and being sucked into the engine. We decided to install Van's new Alternate air door which is pilot controlled by a Bowden cable from the cockpit. The purpose of the Alternate Air Door on both the Arrow and RV is to bypass the air filter incase it gets clogged by ice, snow, or other debris. An alternate Air Door is not on the Cessna as Carb Heat air will by-pass the filter (Carb heat air does not by-pass the filter on the RV).
  

  The Emergency Carb Air knob is located just under the master switch in the cockpit and is for emergency use only and is not to be opened as part of any routine operation. The alternate air door is not designed to be reset from the cockpit.

  Should filter blockage be encountered, the pilot must pull the emergency carb air knob to open the alternate air door so that the engine will continue to draw sufficient induction air. The pilot must land as soon as practical after opening the filter bypass door so that the filter blockage can be cleared and to reset the filter bypass door. If you have any questions on the operation of this knob, please let me know.

N20843 Cessna 172M

• No Maintenance action this month

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

• No Maintenance action this month

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