….;
St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 December 2018

From The President - By Steve

Greetings Members:

What a month! The Cessna upgrade is complete and if you haven't seen it yet you are in for a treat. John and Larry put so much effort into this and it really paid off with a beautiful panel that includes the GTN750, 2 G5's and a Garmin autopilot. The G5's with 4 hours of battery backup and the addition of the autopilot are a real safety upgrade for instrument flight. I had the pleasure of flying it once already and it is a great layout. The manuals are on the club web site and there is also a free app available for your Apple devices called GTN Trainer that lets you explore the capabilities of the GTN750 from home.

Many thanks to Pic and his wife for hosting the Christmas party at their home. A great time was had by all and there were even a few non aviation related conversations.

We have 2 new applications for membership and I will be talking to both after Christmas. There continues to be an active interest in the club and what drives that is first and foremost the condition of the airplanes we are able to fly.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year.

Steve

Treasurer's Report - by T.J

Fellow Members,

Attached below are our 12/15/18 financial schedules; we’ve gone with the section approach again so please be sure to read all the way down.

Blue Skies

TJ

Billing Statement

The billing statement is attached below, please let me know if you have any questions.

BALANCE SHEET

Notable items on the balance sheet include:

  1. We’ve exhausted our insurance premiums and we expect to renew with AIG in 2019. No word on what we will be paying, expect it in the next billing cycle.
  2. A big thank you goes out to Pic & John Heilmann for selling the ADF & DME out of the Arrow for $800. The proceeds have been reflected in the Avionics improvement fund.
  3. We mailed our St. Louis County personal property taxes on December 14; the total was $2,910.52 and will be reflected in the January 15, 2019 cycle.
  4. We placed the Cessna back into service!! As such, the “Major Work in Progress” dropped (the remaining value reflects the Arrow) and the value of the Cessna increased. We still have one large outstanding piece and that is the sale of the 430; it sounds like we have some promising leads.

Don’t hesitate to send questions.

   Maintenance - by John

N202CR RV-7A

  • No maintenance issues with the RV-7A this month

N20843 Cessna 172M

  • Annual Inspection & Avionics Upgrade - The avionics upgrade and annual inspection was completed on 17 December. The checkout flight went very well and the new systems operated as expected. We did have an issue with our existing GMS-340 audio panel where the COM 1 MIC and COM 2 MIC buttons would work intermittently. Sometimes you would have to hit the MIC buttons 7-8 times before it would switch COMs. We took our Audio Panel out and had it sent to Garmin for repair. While it is getting repaired, we have a GMA-345 loaner audio panel in the Cessna. In addition to the installation of the avionics, the following list covers some of the other repairs/updates that were done during the annual:
    • Had Airspeed, Altitude, and VSI instruments overhauled to fix the instrument glass fogging issue.
    • Removed the Vacuum pump, vacuum filters, hoses, and backup vacuum system.
    • Relocated the EDM-730 Engine Monitor to the old NO. 1 CDI location for better visibility.
    • Added a remote Transponder IDENT switch to the pilot control yoke similar to the Piper Arrow.
    • Modified the Annunciator Panel to remove the vacuum indicator lights and add a CO Monitor annunciator light and test button.
    • Added an Alternate Avionics Master Switch for use when the ground power plug is plugged in.
    • Replaced the LH tire and Tube and regressed the wheel bearings. Replaced LH an RH brake pads and brake cylinder O-Rings.
    • Added a USB outlet on the Pilot side of the instrument panel and a mounting ball to support Phones or other displays on the pilot side panel.
    • Replaced the pilot side instrument panel plastic overlay and the RH side baggage compartment plastic panel. Repaired the RH passenger window plastic panel.
    • Replaced the pilot yoke universal joint and bushings to provide smoother operation of the control yoke.

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

  • Vacuum Pump - Damian had a vacuum pump failure on his trip to Florida. The pump failed in VFR conditions and he was able to fly on to his destination. Damian was able to find a replacement vacuum pump and have it installed on Christmas Eve for a very reasonable price. Hopefully we can get the G5's and Garmin Autopilot installed before we need to install another vacuum pump.
  • Gear Down Indicator Lights - Damian also had two gear down indicator lights fail on his Florida trip. When he put the gear down for landing, he only had one green light instead of the highly desired three green lights. Since he felt and heard the three gears clunk into the down position, he suspected that two indicator light bulbs had burnt out. He took the one good bulb and put it into the other two positions and was able to verify that the gear was down and locked. Damian bought three new bulbs and we will now keep a spare bulb in the plane.


Copyright © 2018, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated Dec 2018 .
...