St Louis Flying Club

Club Newsletter - 15 December 2000

From The President - By Mike Piccirilli

Dear Members;

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Best wishes to you and your families for a healthy, happy, and prosperous new Year.

I was very happy to hear from Randy that he had found the disconnected defroster tubing and figured that this was a major contributor to our radio problems. My hope was that by Randy reconnecting it, that would solve our radio problem. Unfortunately, no such luck! Todd flew the airplane to Ohio, after it had the defroster tube fixed (and the outside temperature was much cooler). He had very similar radio problems to those that John Heilmann and I experienced in June, after which the radio had died completely. I asked Todd to post a summary of events on our website so each of you can read it.

My main concerns are that the radio problem appears to be something other than heat-related (the outside temperature was at least 40 degrees cooler than the flight when it crapped out this summer and the defroster heat hose was now connected). Todd had problems when he had his intercom plugged in and had problems with the PTT switch (in June I also had my intercom connected and had problems with the PTT switch). On his return flight, Todd plugged in his headset directly (rather than use the intercom) and had no problems. I'm sure you are all concerned about the reliability of our new radio. Would any of you volunteer to track down and resolve the radio issues (it may mean returning the radio for additional repairs, discussing the issues with the manufacturer, discussing the issues with an avionics shop, replacing the radio with another type, etc.)? Marlin told me that the number 2 radio has poor transmitter quality. Currently, I see the club owning 3 radios but all of them have a trasmitter, receiver, or reliability problem.

Todd was going to also see if he could get the insurance policy posted on the website. That way we could all reference it.

Just a reminder on winter weather operating tips. Take a shovel with you to the plane. Even though the hangar roof keeps most of the snow and ice off it, the snow and ice that melts from the roof often refreezes directly in front of the plane. Also, the pilot is responsible for paying for pre-heating the airplane in really cold weather. I suggest pre-heat be used definitely at under 20 degrees and probably should be used at under 30 degrees.

Happy Landings, Pic

From The Treasurer - From Marlin Sipe

Because of being busy with the holidays, I cut off the flight time a week early, and the finances a couple days early.

We had another good month, gaining about another $300 in the treasury. There was no fuel bill this month, which helps. Like I said before, it seems like there's almost 2 months of fuel on the credit card in one month, and almost nothing in the next. We now have about $1150 for maintenance and inspection. This might be a new record. If anything comes up needing repairs, we have some money for it. Of course, the extra $10 per month per person is helping too.

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