St Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 19 August 1998

From The President - By Mike Piccirilli

Dear Members,

I apologize again for not being at the meeting but I was happy to hear everyone else made it. The minutes of the meeting should be attached to this newsletter.

I understand that Barb Skyles will officially continue to do the scheduling job. Congratulations on Todd taking over the duties of Secretary. Mike Russell and I discussed things and decided that I would continue as President and Mike as Vice president. All other positions are also status quo.

Marlin brought up the idea of replacing the 2nd radio with one capable of 720 channels, flip-flop capabilities, and a memory. Randy Skyles has done some research and has found a replacement unit, by Mitchell, for $835 (compared to $1,557 for a Narco replacement). In looking through the by-laws I don't see any section that deals with improvements to the aircraft. The process for maintenance items is to pay them from the treasury and assess any shortfall with a special assessment. Since this is more of an upgrade I really feel it needs a vote of the membership. Without a section of the bylaws specifying the number of members needing to approve, I believe it defaults to a unanimous approval being required.

My personal opinion on upgrading the 2nd radio is that while it would be nice, I don't believe it warrants a special assessment. If the treasury increases to the point that there are sufficient funds, taking into account the funds needed for the annual inspection, then I would be inclined to vote for replacing the 2nd radio.

I haven't received official notice form the airport yet but just a reminder that the annual Fair and Airshow will be going on at Spirit September 4th through the 7th. Expect the short runway and taxiways to be closed during, as well as before and after, these days.

Happy Landings,

Mike Piccirilli

   Maintenance Corner - from Marlin Sipe based on info from Randy Skyles

I talked to Randy about the avionics. At the meeting we were discussing the possibility of upgrading the #2 comm radio. Randy located a Michel MX- 11R for something on the order of $800+. It has flip-flop frequencies, 10 memories, and 720 channels. Since this would be an upgrade instead of normal maintenance, it would require unanimous approval, but there are a couple of things that should be taken care of first.

Randy pulled the #2 comm radio and cleaned the contacts. He reports that it's not as scratchy and is a little louder now.

We are still having intermittent problems with the mode-C on the transponder. This is something that needs to be fixed because Mode-C is required to fly in this area, plus it's really needed for IFR operations. Our transponder has been removed and replaced with a loaner, but may be back by the time you read this. The shop reports that tapping on the "tube assembly" causes the transponder to go off-frequency. This may or may not be the Mode-C problem, but it is a problem in an aircraft with the vibration. A rough estimate on repair is $400 for the tube assembly, plus installation ($200?). A new transponder would be $1200 to $1400.

The # 1 Nav has been having some problems with frequency. I noticed that it required some jiggling of the frequency selector to get a signal. Todd reported that he was unable to get a usable signal on his last trip. This is a real problem for IFR flights, especially since the # 1 Nav is also the ILS. Randy reports that a new replacement would cost around $750. He is going to have our current unit cleaned and re-aligned to see if that will take care of the problem.

The landing light had a broken connector and has been replaced.

Todd & I are both planning trips this fall, and would really like to feel confident enough in the equipment to fly it IFR.

From the Editor - from Marlin Sipe

I was unable to reach Mike Russell to get the minutes from the meeting, but everyone except Mike Piccirilli was there.

The newsletter is a little late because I was waiting for a couple more checks to arrive, and I wanted to get out to the airport to get the flight times.

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