St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 20 Jan 2013

From The President - By Pic

Dear Members,

Mike McBride is relinquishing his Treasurer responsibilities to me as he is actively working to sell his share. Mike and i have gotten together to get me smarter on the various spreadsheets and the process he has been using. I have opened a new US Bank checking account, in the club's name, and have also gotten a debit card and credit card. I'm anticipating the club getting ~$500 cash back from just our fuel purchases at TACAir by using this card. I have notified TACAir of the new card number (no impact on our process of ordering fuel). The process that will change immediately is to send your monthly payments to StLouisFlyingClub@gmail.com at PayPal.com. I have tied this new PayPal account to the new club checking account.

Paul took a date to Coles County Memorial Airport (KMTO) in Mattoon/Charleston IL, for lunch at the on field restaurant called Airport Steakhouse. The restaurant is open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM daily and has a varied menu with low prices, and breakfast is served all day. KMTO has a 6,500' runway that's in great shape and is 120 NM ENE of KSUS.

Mike Landgraf has upgraded to Full Member status and has already gotten almost 5 hours in the Arrow. Good work Mike! Paul Carpenter has taken the option to make 12 monthly payments to upgrade his membership. All members now pay the same amount for monthly dues.

Chris Tebbe has researched insurance options since our current insurer is leaving the aviation field. Chris presented the officers with 2 options which we are reviewing. The policies are very similar to what we currently have (except the deductibles are a bit higher) and the prices are similar.

Chris has also offered his wife, Barb, to help us with the club taxes. I don't anticipate any tax being due, it's just the hassle of filling out the form (something the club hasn't done before).

With the holidays and cold weather, progress on the hangar office continues at a slower pace. The electrical outlets and lights have been installed and the self leveling concrete has been poured. The plan is to install the floor installation panels and plywood underlayment on Saturday, 26 Jan. The switch for the hanger overhead lights (on the outside wall of the club office next to the window) was hooked up and works now so you do not have to use the circuit breaker to turn the lights on and off.

Happy Landings,

Pic

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Fuel prices at TACAir fell again this month, which improved our hourly flight rates to $77 and $101 for the C172 and Arrow, respectively. The C172 logged just over 11 flight hours, and the Arrow logged just under 10 hours.

The billing statement now shows the monthly dues at $125.00 per month. The dues include a $20 monthly charge for internet access in the hanger (we paid for Nov 2012 and Dec 2012, as well as for Jan 2013, on this statement); the ongoing charge is now factored into the monthly membership dues. No other unexpected expenses were incurred during the month.

The upgrade of limited members to full members was implemented at the end of 2012, with the upgrade charge coming to $3,726.17 per member. One member chose to take advantage of the extended payment period for the upgrade charge, and a new section has been added to the bottom of the billing statement to track that member's obligation to the club.

The Treasury and Adjusted Treasury balances are very strong, reflective of the limited member upgrades that have been paid to-date; Treasury is almost $13,000, and Adjusted Treasury is just over $8,000.

As a final note, I am currently transitioning the Treasurer's duties to Mike Piccirilli. I have greatly enjoyed doing this job for the club for the past several years, and I'll miss it! Thank you for trusting me with this responsibility.

Fly Safely!

Mike

   Maintenance - by John

N20843

The following Cessna maintenance actions were taken this month:

• Brakes - The RH brake was soft and the RH brake system was bled and serviced on 5 January.

• Oil Change and Strut Servicing - The oil and filter were changed and the nose strut serviced with Nitrogen on 5 January. Thanks to Kip for helping with the brake bleeding. The oil analysis results from this change are shown below. There was a continuing decrease in the iron readings but there was an increase in the Aluminum and copper readings over the normally low levels. There were no metal chips in the filter and we will keep an eye on it at the next oil change.
  

• No. 4 Cylinder EGT - We had a squawk on 9 Jan that the #4 Cylinder Probe was inoperative. The EGT probe was replaced on 10 Jan with a spare probe we had in stock.

N2242N

• Oil Change - The oil and filter were changed at 5600.20 hours tach time on 20 Jan. The oil and filter analysis will be shown in next months newsletter.

• Attitude Indicator - There were no squawks on the Attitude Indicator this month so it looks like it was an isolated case due to the cold weather.

Copyright © 2012, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated January 2013.