St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 24 Feb 2009

From The President - By Todd Michal

Dear Members,

February was a busy month in the maintenance department. Repairs on the vacuum pump and the nose wheel strut grounded the plane on two different occasions this month. Thanks to the quick work of John and Mike, both repairs were completed quickly and the plane was available for service with minimal down time.

The repairs have set the treasury back just as we head into the spring and annual inspection time. Let's hope for minimal issues during the annual so we can avoid a large assessment.

The airport commission has asked the FBO's to not refuel aircraft in the hangars. I had the plane refueled a few weeks ago. I left the plane outside the hangar and the ground crew refueled the plane and pushed it back into the hangar. They even plugged the engine heater back in (just make sure you tell the receptionist when you call that you would like the plane pushed back and the engine heater plugged in).

Happy Takeoffs!

Todd

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Fuel costs continue to remain at very reasonable levels at JetDirect, and our flight rate remains at $60 per hour. Flying hours were low during the past month, at just under 7 hours. Our hangar rental with FlySpirit has increased by $20 effective 1 Jan 2009, but we were able to absorb that increase in the current monthly dues.

Flight time was relatively strong this past month at just over 11 hours, especially considering some of the maintenance problems that have occurred. Fuel rates remain favorable, with retail rates at $4.87 per gallon, which keeps our flight rate at $60 per hour for the time being. Treasury and Adjusted Treasury were negatively impacted by the purchase of a replacement vacuum pump; both balances remain negative, in spite of our increased dues to cover improvements.

TAC Air is now the preferred fuel provider for us at Spirit; they purchased the FBO from JetDirect. Their number is 636-532-8882 (Unicom 122.95, ARINC 131.32) . Also, a reminder that the airport has instructed all of the FBO's on the field to NOT fuel airplanes inside of hangars; so if you request fuel after a flight, you can leave the plane outside of the hangar, and ask the FBO to put the plane in the hangar after they complete the fueling.

I've been trying to log tach hours on the club schedule; please try to do the same after you fly (log tach start and stop times) so that I have flight totals available during the month, it makes preparation of the monthly statements much easier.

An analysis of our spending vs. budget/allocations over approximately the past two years shows that we do have some areas of financial concern. First, our spending on improvements to the airplane exceeds our allocations (improvement fund contribution plus assessments) by almost $825. Second, our maintenance charges exceed our maintenance allocation in the hourly flight rate by over $1,450, or about $7.60 per hour. A third area of concern, not as significant, is an under-recovery for fuel costs by approximately $230, or $1.20 per flight hour. I will spend some time this coming month developing recommendations to the members to adjust for these situations.

Fly safely!

Mike

Maintenance - by John

Tach Accuracy - The RPM sender for the JPI Engine monitor was installed last week and a comparison of the Engine monitor and the aircraft tach shows the tach is reading about 175 to 200 rpm lower than the engine is actually turning. The JPI readings were verified by a handheld tach pointed at the prop (matched JPI readings exactly). You can see the RPM reading on the JPI engine monitor on its normal automatic stepping cycle or you can manually step with the left button until it stops on RPM.

Mike McBride generated the following test points on a flight last Sunday which shows the delta from the tach readings to the JPI readings at typical flight settings. If you want to cruise at 2450 RPM for example, the aircraft tach shows 2250 and the engine will actually be turning at 2450. We have probably been cruising at a much higher actual RPM than we though and using more fuel than expected.

I can't find any requirement on tach accuracy but feel that 200 rpm off is more than I'd like to see. We should not have to make mental calculations every time we want to make an rpm setting. I will add a placard stating "Actual RPM is 200 higher than TACH indicates" until we replace or fix the current tach.

Tach/Engine Monitor Readings

JPI Tach Delta

2,000 1,825 175

2,050 1,875 175

2,100 1,910 190

2,150 1,975 175

2,200 2,010 190

2,250 2,090 160

2,300 2,120 180

2,350 2,150 200

2,400 2,200 200

2,450 2,250 200

2,500 2,310 190

2,550 2,375 175

Nose Strut - The lower nose strut seals were replaced last week and the aircraft was returned to service on 21 Feb. The loss of strut fluid and air pressure was caused by a rolled seal in the strut that would allow leakage under certain conditions. The schrader valve fitting was also replaced as there was a slight air leak with the old valve that could not be stopped. The photo below shows the lower strut (with new seals) installed back in the aircraft (I wanted to take more pictures of the strut repair but we were so engaged in doing the work that I only remembered to take a photo after the strut was installed back in the airplane). While the nose wheel was off, we went ahead and re-greased the wheel bearings.

Vacuum Pump - The vacuum pump failed in flight (VFR) on January 31 and was replaced with a new pump on 5 Feb and returned to service on 6 Feb. A tear down of the pump shows that there was no failure of the carbon hub or vanes and that only the shaft coupler (weak link) failed. The pump lasted about 660 hours over 6 years. The vacuum filters were also replaced. There are STC'd kits available to direct cooling air to the vacuum pump to prolong pump life that we may consider for a future upgrade.

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