"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 23 February 2011

From The President - By Todd Michal

Dear Members,

John plans to start the Arrow annual on Friday, 25 February. The annual will probably stretch over a few weeks and may go longer if unanticipated parts are required. The plan is to pull out the King KMD150 and install the Garmin Aera during the annual. The annual is a great chance to learn more about the aircraft below the surface. There is always lots of work to be done, so I'm sure John would welcome help. If you can help out during the annual inspection, please let John know when you are available.

The motor for the door on the Arrow hangar decided to stop working last week. The motor has now been repaired, but if you noticie any problems let me know so I can report it to the airport administration.

Congratulations to Paul Carpenter on the completion of his IFR written exam. I know several other members are working on ratings or certificates. It's great to see our club living up to the principles stated in our by-laws, i.e. "The sole and principal objective is to enable the club, for the education and the enjoyment of its members, to become proficient pilots, at a minimum cost".

I hope to see you all at the Arrow annual. Happy Takeoffs! Todd

Happy Takeoffs!

Todd

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Fuel prices for the month fell slightly at TACAir, reducing our hourly flight rates to $64 and $86 for the C172 and Arrow, respectively. Flight hours were moderate for the C172 (5 hrs), and fairly strong for the Arrow (19 hrs).

Insurance was renewed in February, so that escrow fund balance shows a significant reduction, and this reflects as a reduction in member share price. Other balances remain strong, including the Treasury at just over $5,000. The aircraft valuations have been adjusted slightly to reflect flight hours; the reduction in value is largely offset by the engine funds for each plane, so overall changes to valuation should be negligible. Expect to see these adjustments on a monthly basis going forward.

Charley Royce has volunteered to help with the billing workload, and is tracking flight times and fuel purchases. Please support Charley by posting your flight times and fuel purchases on the web calendar in a timely fashion. Charley and I will continue to coordinate on off-field fuel purchases, as he needs those for overall fuel usage, and I need them for billing credits; send your receipts to either of us, and we'll take care of the rest.

Fly safely!

Mike

Maintenance - by John

N20843

Monroy Traffic Monitor - Monroy came up with an upgrade for the ATD-300 traffic monitor in the Cessna. The current unit tells you that traffic is nearby but doesn't say what direction. The upgraded version uses a new directional antenna that points to the quadrant the plane is in. To upgrade the Cessna, we would send in our current unit and upgrade it for $300.00 and purchase the directional antenna for $465.00 for a total of $765. The unit would then display traffic direction using the arrow as shown below and make it much easier to spot the traffic. The upgraded unit has an optional output signal that can display the traffic on the GNS-430W as well. Something to think about for a future upgrade.
Oil Analysis We received the oil analysis for the Cessna and it indicates in increase in iron. All the readings are well within acceptable levels. We will see how the trend develops over the next few oil changes.

N2242N

Annual Inspection - The Arrow annual is planned to start on 25 Feb. We plan to do the operational check flight on Friday morning and then do the compression test and oil change. We will do the timing check and then start on the remaining inspection effort. We plan to send the shoulder harness and inertia reels to a company to service them as they do not seem to retract as well as they should. Hopefully we won't run into anything major.
ELT - I ordered a new ACK 406/121.5 MHz E-04 ELT for the Arrow and was hoping to receive it in time for the annual. The ELT just received certification in late January and the company is just now shipping them.
Oil Analysis We received the oil analysis for the last oil change on the Arrow and it also indicates in increase in iron. All the readings are well within acceptable levels. We will see how the trend develops over the next few oil changes.

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