St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 23 December 2014

From The President - By Charley

Dear Members:

Happy New Year to all! I hope that everyone had a great holiday season and was able to relax and spend time with friends and family. Thanks to everyone who was able to either attend or provide a proxy for our December Meeting to discuss the addition of an aircraft. Adding an aircraft is not a simple or perfect process, and one that can never be timed perfectly. I am grateful for everyone’s contributions to our discussion about the addition and appreciate the open and ongoing discussion about what each of you feel will make our club the best it can be.

For those who were unable to attend the meeting, the proposal to add the Citabria passed by a vote of 12 to 4. Pic, John and T.J. have begun further investigation of the purchase to include a review of the logbook, engine usage as well as insurance options. The investigation may take a while as we want to ensure that we take all information into account before making an offer, I would expect us to have an update sometime in January. I have begun to work through the prospective member list. The holiday season has delayed making contact with some but I am now back on track speaking with prospective members, showing the aircraft, answering questions about the club etc. After I speak with those interested I will get you all a slate of members to vote on as soon as possible.

Thanks also to Chris, T.J. and Pic for working through our insurance options this year, we have decided to stay with our current insurer (AIG through Envision) due to their willingness to cover our new aircraft, commercial liability coverage and a cost effective solution with a quality company. The cost is expected to be flat against last year which is great news. T.J. will likely begin to maintain a roster of information required for us to obtain insurance quotes in future years, you can expect to see that request soon, please return it as soon as you are able. Talk to you all next month! Safe skies,

Charley

Treasurer's Report - by PIC

Members,

The Personal Property Tax bill was very close to what was estimated and has been paid. The fuel prices came down 18 cents this month, lowering the hourly costs to $76 and $100. The monthly dues are unchanged @ $122. The Share Value increased to $10,960.

   Maintenance - by John

N20843 Cessna 172M

• Nose Landing Gear - On 3 Dec, the nose landing gear torque scissor links were reshimmed using FAA-PMA McFarlane MCS1450-6B14 shims to minimize nose gear shimmy.
• Garmin 430W Software Update - On 4 Dec, the GNS-430W Main Software was updated per Garmin Service Bulletin SB1461 to version 5.20 which includes the following applicable changes:
  • Added support for Garmin Flight Stream 210, providing data including flight plan (input/output) and GPS position to mobile devices over Bluetooth.
  • Added support for the Vivisun tri-state HTAWS external annunciator to differentiate between the “HTAWS N/A” and “Pilot Inhibit” annunciations.
  • Adjusted the width of the traffic search volume to reduce nuisance alerts.
  • Resolved an issue affecting the Fuel On Board setting for configurations where fuel flow is provided by an external device but Fuel On Board is not.
• Propellor/Engine Dynamic Balance - On 13 Dec, the propellor and engine were dynamically balanced by Mike Rohlman of MSR Aviation Resources to reduce aircraft vibration. The engine/prop vibration was noticeable when Kip and I were flyiing the standby vacuum system calibration test flight last month. A total of 29.8 grams balance weights were added to the starter ring gear and the vibration levels were reduced from the initial level of 0.55 Inches Per Second (IPS) Peak Amplitude (rough) to a level of 0.050 IPS Peak Amplitude (good).

  

  

  

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

• Garmin 430W Software Update - On 4 Dec, the GNS-430W Main Software was updated per Garmin Service Bulletin SB1461 to version 5.20

Copyright © 2012, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated Dec 2014 2014.