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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 January 2020

From The President - By Steve

Dear Members,

January 22 was the date for our insurance renewal and if you will recall the note I sent on 1/21 we saw our deductible for a plane in motion incident go from $1,000 to $2,500. Our premiums also increased by 22%. A recent article from AOPA titled “Why Insurance Rates Increase 10 to 100 Percent” indicates we are not the only ones feeling the pain. While too late to do anything about our 2020 rates the officers are exploring steps we can take to minimize our insurance costs going forward. We have been in contact with a broker who has given us some ideas on risk mitigation, and a plan to present our safety policies when asking for quotes next year. We plan to have more information to offer at the Spring meeting.

The RV is down for the annual and major upgrades. It should come out as an IFR airplane with a great panel including the same Garmin autopilot we put in the Cessna.

Congratulations to Todd Michal, Tim Volk and Charley Royce for completing their checkout in the RV. Thanks to John Housley and Pic we now have 13 members checked out in that airplane.

Safe flying!

Steve

Treasurer's Report - by T.J

Fellow Members,

Attached below are our January financial schedules; don’t hesitate to call with questions.

Blue Skies

TJ

BILLING STATEMENT

BALANCE SHEET

Notable Items:

• We paid our 2020 insurance premiums of $17,494. While we can handle the premiums without issue, this is a significant increase from prior years and from the amount we have estimated in our dues. See further discussion in the dues section.
• We completed the Cessna annual and due to a new spinner bulkhead, new magneto coil, new spark plugs, a new right side plastic overlay, and other miscellaneous items, the maintenance fund has moved into negative territory. We expect it to correct during the year without having to change the rate per hour.
• TWe have $14k in cash, which theoretically should be our low point in the year. This is plenty of cash to operate through the year; assuming no significant unforeseen expenses.
• I recorded our new electric tug for the Cessna into the facilities line.

RATE PER HOUR and DUES

• As a reminder to the membership, we reimburse ourselves for our club as follows:
  • Improvements - Monthly/Annual Fixed charges – non-aircraft expense = Dues and Assessments
  • Aircraft Operation and Maintenance = Rate per Hour
• We updated the rates as of 9/15/19; there will be no changes until 3/15/2020 at which point the officers will need to discuss the treatment of the significant increase in insurance premiums. As a reminder, we currently pay dues as follows:

   Maintenance - by John

N202CR RV-7A

• Condition Inspection/Avionics Upgrade - On January 23, we started the Condition Inspection and Avionics upgrade. The compression test was very good with readings of #1-74/80, #2-78/80, #3-74/80, #4-77/80. The existing instruments and avionics were removed and all the wires no longer needed were removed. The new probes for the G3X engine monitor display have been installed and larger, better sealing firewall penetrations were installed to support the addition of the engine CHT and EGT probes. Additional photos and an updated status will be provided in the next newsletter.

N20843 Cessna 172M

• No Maintenance Actions this month

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

• Entry Door Strut On Dec 27, a new Door Steward gas strut was installed in the Arrow. The gas charge in the previous strut had leaked out and it would no longer hold open the door.

Copyright © 2018, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated January 2020 .