St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 28 January 2015

From The President - By Charley

Dear Members:

Well, it looks like we have finalized a deal for a Citabria! Although not the same aircraft we discussed at our meeting in December, we feel it is in better condition and can be purchased for a lower price. A copy of a presentation that Pic put together comparing the two aircraft can be found here. The aircraft is located in NY which complicates things slightly, but the significantly lower engine time, improved weight and balance profile as well as a few things like a GPS that is already installed will make this a great aircraft for our club and worth the additional logistics to get it to SUS. The current plan is to try to get the aircraft to SUS by sometime in mid-February, which will be heavily weather dependent this time of year.

A huge thanks goes out to a whole host of people who have gotten us to where we are today, not the least of which is Pic who has tracked down this aircraft and completed negotiations with the current owner, and put together a plan for the purchase!

Thanks also to John for a detailed review of both aircraft logbooks and maintenance records along with research about the engine, Kip for completing an FAA records search on the aircraft and T.J. for negotiating with the insurance company to get us coverage for the new plane. Also, Phil Self, (who we have determined is the King of recent tail wheel experience in our group) may be driving out with John and Steve to meet the current owner near Akron, Ohio to pick up the plane and fly it back to SUS….thanks guys!

We had a great member social this last Friday organized by T.J. which was held at Wings of Hope. Thanks to Bob Zbylut for arranging the Wings of Hope hangar as it was a lot warmer than ours! We saw a video about what Wings of Hope does and received a tour of the facility and the many projects they currently have in progress. The social was a great way to get together with members informally, hang out and eat! Thanks for the great idea and organizing T.J.

I extended invitations for last Friday night to prospective members but only one, Tim Volk could make the event. It was T.J.’s idea to invite those on the waiting list and it turned out to be a great way for Tim to get to know our club a bit before signing up. I can see us continuing to invite prospective members to our gatherings to foster some additional camaraderie and give them a chance to get to know us a bit before committing.

I’m happy to report that it looks like we currently have three solid prospective members and two more “maybes” that I am speaking with this week. These are all experienced pilots who are impressed with our organization and the quality of aircraft in the club which is primarily why they are interested in joining. I will have some prospective member information out shortly for you all to vote on before we extend any offers, but wanted you to know that we have a good list that I think will get us very close to filling all of the spots opened up by the Citabria.

Thanks again to everyone who pitches in to make our club the great organization it is, I look forward to seeing the newest addition to our fleet soon! Safe skies,

Charley

Treasurer's Report - by PIC

Members,

The avgas fuel prices are finally starting down, though not near as dramatic as auto fuel. This past month they are down $.39, lowering the hourly rates to $73 and $96. The monthly dues are up $2, to $124, because both airplanes database renewals are included (last year we only had to pay for one because of some special pricing). The Share Value decreased a bit to $10,920. John has started purchasing Avionics for the Arrow panel upgrades (I'm tracking those on a separate "Arrow Avionics Upgrades" asset line). He's been able to find some good deals!

   Maintenance - by John

N20843 Cessna 172M

• Nose Landing Gear - On 15 January, the nose gear strut seals were replaced with new seals and slow Nitrogen leak was fixed.
• Flight Stream Installation - The Garmin Flight Stream 210 was installed on 24 January and now provides GPS, weather and traffic data, and attitude information via Bluetooth to an IPAD or Android tablet.

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

• Oil Access Door - On 20 January, the Oil access door latch sill plate was adjusted to hold the door closed.
• Oil Change - On 2 January, the Oil and Filter were changed and 7 new Tempest UREM-38E spark plugs were installed.

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