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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 December 2015

From The President - By Charley

Dear Members:

A huge thanks to John for quickly fixing all squawks on aircraft so quickly during the month! One of those was replacement of the Citabria radio and relocation of the intercom and radio plugs. The new radio takes up less space and was in need of replacement due to failure of the tuning knob and the flickering display at night.

I'm happy to report that we still have one prospective member very interested in joining. The second member who attended our BBQ social has purchased a share in an RV-6 at Spirit. My practice has been to invite prospective members to club meetings / social events in the event they would like to meet the group or observe how we function. Please let me know if you know of a prospective member you would like to see invited.

I've followed up with a few of you this month regarding fueling procedures referenced in last months newsletter. Although improved, we still have work to do in ensuring aircraft are fueled after each flight. As a reminder, even if you do not have time to stop at the self serve pump, you are still obligated to ensure aircraft are fueled properly for the next member. TacAir is almost always available within about 10 minutes for Avgas, fueling can be expedited by calling them on their ASRI at 131.325 as you taxi in. Making sure that aircraft you use are both cleaned and fueled per guidelines after you leave is considerate of other members and helps us maintain a positive club experience for everyone.

T.J. obtained our 2016 insurance quote this month and it has increased a nominal amount due to our incident this year which ended up as roughly a $30K claim. In addition, it appears AIG is no longer offering the commercial liability insurance we purchase for John due to the A&P/IA work he does on club aircraft. This is a corporate policy change with AIG and is not related to our incident this year. T.J. is in discussions with our broker to better understand our options regarding the commercial liability policy we previously held, we will update the club when we have further information.

Thanks to Tim Volk for coordinating and working the purchase of the parachutes for the Citabria. The club now has two parachutes; a seat pack and a back pack which allow you to choose the best one for your comfort. The parachutes are kept in plastic containers located under the desk in the club office. For W&B purposes, the Seat pack weighs 13.3 lbs and the back pack weighs 12.5 lbs. John Housley, one of our Citabria instructors, will give an aerobatic ground session to anyone interested on the evening of Sunday January 10th. Tim Volk will provide the location and time in a future message.

Lastly, as we have added new members there are a few of our scheduling practices that are no longer practical. This is primarily in reference to policies around approval for trips longer than 7 days as well as scheduling around "prime" dates such as holidays and Oshkosh. I will have a note out to the club with proposed solutions that will eventually require a vote to change by-laws sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Talk to you all next month.

Safe skies,

Charley

Treasurer's Report - by PIC

Members,

The Personal Property Tax came in slightly under our estimate. This was the last bill for our "Annual Bills" account and we came just $29 under our projected costs in total. Aviation fuel cost did not change this month though that's hard to understand as the price per barrel and auto gas keeps dropping. A/C rates stay the same. No change in dues. They may change slightly next year as I am still refining the cost estimates for 2016. Share value went down to $10,647.

Pic

   Maintenance - by John

N8746V Citabria 7ECA

  • Intercom - The intercom in the FL-760 radio would cut out front seat to rear seat communication if the radio received any communication on the tuned frequency. That quickly became an issue as the instructor communication to the pilot could be cut off at a critical time. The PM1000II Intercom was reinstalled and now works as expected.

N20843 Cessna 172M

  • Engine Monitor - The number 2 EGI probe has been failing and a new probe was ordered. I hope to install it in the first week of January.
  • Secondary Seat Stop - The Secondary seat stop was installed on the pilots seat on Dec 30 at KCAC in accordance with Cessna Service Bulletin SEB07-5 Revision 4. Cessna covered the cost of the seat stop hardware and installation labor at KCAC. The Secondary Seat Stop is an additional device installed on the pilot seat that assists in preventing uncommanded rearward movement of the seat. It is designed to assist in providing an additional margin of safety by limiting the aft travel of the seat should the primary seat latch pin(s) not be properly engaged in the seat rail/track. In certain instances, seat slippage could result in some pilots not being able to reach all the controls and/or subsequently losing control of the airplane. The functionality of the Secondary Seat Stop should be completely transparent to the operator. Thanks to Steve Heidenreich for relocating the plane to KCAC and back for the installation.

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

  • Alternator and Oil Cooler Winterization Plate - A problem was reported that the Alternator light would intermittently come on during flight. On Dec 3, the Alternator ground connection at the engine was cleaned the problem resolved. The oil cooler winterization plate was also installed.


Copyright © 2015, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated December 2015.
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