"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 21 December 2010

From The President - By PIC

Dear Members,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

The work on re-incorporating the club is proceeding. I've drafted the new Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws, adding quite a bit to clarify the operations of the club. I sent the initial draft to the club officers, Todd and Charley to get their feedback. I really appreciate the input provided by Mike Warakomski and Mike McBride. I've incorporated their inputs and have now sent the drafts onto our lawyer, Tom Mug, for his review. My plan is to receive his inputs, coordinate any proposed changes with the club officers and then send them out to all the members for approval. Hopefully this will all happen over the holidays or early next year. Tom Mug is actually switching law firms at the beginning of the year where he will officially start our file up with the new firm.

If you haven't already responded to Chris with the info needed for the insurance renewal quotes, please do so. Chris needs this info to get as competitive a rate as possible!

Another document that is in work is an Operating Handbook to clarify the ground and hangar procedures of the club. Todd had started it, I've updated it to remove duplication with the By Laws and Charley has added quite a bit regarding aircraft care/cleaning and tug operations. I hope to have this published to all the members by next month.

A big thanks to John for installing the new Engine Analyzer in the C-172! It looks great and I think it's constant, visual reporting of engine parameters will be a real improvement.

I wish each of you, and your families, a great Holiday season and best wishes in the New Year!

Happy Landings!

Pic

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Retail fuel charges for the month at TACAir were $6.54, which was a rise of about $0.30 per gallon (see explanation below); this put flight rates for the C172 and Arrow at $74 and $98 per hour, respectively. Flight time was low this past month, at about 7.5 hours for the C172, and just under 17 hours for the Arrow. Current Treasury and Adjusted Treasury balances are strong; maintenance and repair expenses for the month were very low.

This month's billing statement includes an assessment of $37.50 per member ($600 total), to cover the anticipated charges for the new ELT for the C172. This was approved at the recent membership meeting. Also approved were improvements to the engine monitor displays for both airplanes; the billing statement reflects the allocation of $1080 out of each improvement fund to cover those expenses. At this point in time, both improvement funds are in the red, but will build back up over the next few months. Finally, the escrow funds for the personal property taxes were transferred to cover those expenses. The taxes were about $120 higher than budget, with the difference covered out of treasury funds.

I've discovered an error in the way I have been calculating average fuel prices from TACAir over the past year; we get a monthly report from them showing fuel usage and fuel charges by aircraft, but the charges they show include only the fuel portions, exclusive of taxes. As a result, our fuel rate on all of our calculations has been low by about $0.27 to $0.29 per gallon for most of 2011. This has two pertinent implications: first, the fuel rate has gone up by the amount of that delta (with commensurate increases in the flight rate); second, we have under-charged for flight time throughout 2011. I've done the corrective calculations, and the impact for the full year by member is shown below. These charges reflect the flight charge delta in each aircraft (individual flight hours times delta hourly fuel rate for the aircraft), as well as corrected fuel credits for any off-field purchases:

Name Delta Charge
Carpenter $18.38
Evitts $45.32
Heidenreich $91.87
Heilmann $21.37
Hiltner $33.38
Landgraf $38.05
McBride $0
Michal $25.22
O'Shea $25.22
Patil $102.12
Piccirilli $41.35
Royce $75.11
Russell $0
Self $33.97
Tebbe $80.91
Warakomski $0
Zbylut $83.51

I have a detailed breakdown of the charges for each member, and will send that out to all members separately; I also am available to discuss this with anyone who has questions. I will include these additional flight charges on the January Billing Statement. My apologies for the error, and for any inconvenience this causes you.

I'll also be sending out a Summary Annual Report showing various fund balances and flight rates, similar to what I presented at the recent club meeting.

Fly Safely

Mike

Maintenance - by John

N20843

EDM-730 Installation - The new EDM-730 Engine monitor was installed in the Cessna on 16 December.
LED Navigation Lights - An LED replacement bulb was installed on the LH wing tip. The bulb socket on the RH wing tip and tail light will need additional adjustment as the LED bulbs can not be inserted far enough to allow the bulb to turn and lock into the sockets.
IFR Checks - Mueller Avionics completed the Altimeter & Altitude Reporter Test per FAR 91.411 and the Transponder Test per FAR 91.413 on 19 December. These tests are required every two years and the next test is due by the end of December 2013.
GeneralServicing - The battery was checked and serviced with distilled water. The upper center cowl shock mount was replaced with a new shock mount and two new bolts were installed in the LH Main wheel pant fairing on 17 Dec.
RH Main Flat Tire - Jerry was called to fix a RH main flat tire on 17 Dec. The problem was found to be a bad inner tube valve core which he replaced. Jerry recommends that we do not push the wheel chocks all the way in towards the tire so that if the tire goes flat, the wheel pant will not lower and hit the chock and damage the fiberglass fairing.

N2242N

LED Navigation Lights - The Wing and tail position lights were replaced with new LED bulbs on 3 December.
Propellor Spinner - One of the spinner cuffs (see photo below) was replaced with a new spinner cuff on 21 December. The old one had cracked and a part of it was missing.
General Servicing - On 3 Dec, The landing gear was greased and the hydraulic and brake fluids were serviced. A missing #60 diameter drain hole was drilled in the manifold pressure line. The battery was checked and serviced with distilled water on 13 Dec.
Oil Change - The oil and filter were changed on 3 Dec and Philips X/C 20W50 oil was added. The oil analysis results were received and are shown below. All readings were normal

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