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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 January 2021

From The President - By Steve

Dear Members,

I want to give you a status report on the airplanes. As I write this quite a few members have flown the Arrow after the avionics upgrade and I have heard nothing but positive reviews although now the arrow is down to trouble shoot and fix a "soft" left brake issue. The Cessna annual was just completed with no major expenses, not counting quite a few man-hours on rebuilding some fuel system components. Several weeks ago one of the cylinders on the RV was found to have low compression and after some troubleshooting, the decision was made to replace that cylinder. John has more details in the maintenance section below. Since we are breaking in a new cylinder, we are using Phillips Mineral Oil with a big M on the container. If adding oil to the RV, use the Mineral oil shown below until further notice. The Mineral oil is in a box in the RV hangar.

Our insurance was renewed with AIG and included another premium increase along with a change in the deductible. The not in motion deductible went from $500 to $1000 with the in motion deductible staying the same as last year at $2500. It seems the insurance market remains tight as again we only received one quote.

Here’s hoping for warmer weather and blue sky’s.

Safe flying!

Steve

Treasurer's Report - by T.J

Happy New Year!

Don’t hesitate to let me know if there are any questions.

Blue Skies

TJ

BILLING STATEMENT

BALANCE SHEET

Significant Discussions

• Insurance - Our 2021 Insurance is in and the premium table is included in a section at the bottom of this write-up. Note that the amount shows as of January 15, less one month of amortization.
• Maintenance Funds - The maintenance funds are all at a healthy level.
• Overall Cash - Cash will be sufficient for needed payments into the foreseeable future.
• Prepaid Assets - Prepaid assets experienced a significant increase due to the payment of the insurance proceeds.

Insurance

2020 vs 2021 Insurance

   Maintenance - by John

N202CR RV-7A

• Oil Change - On January 6th, we changed the oil and changed the filter. While checking the filter element, we saw some copper colored metal in the filter so we did a compression test to see if we could determine where the metal was coming from. The compressions were 1: 78/80, 2: 78/80, 3: 48/80, and 4: 78/80. Suspecting cylinder #3, we did a "wobble" test on the valves and found the exhaust valve "wobbled" excessively indicating a worn valve guide. We decided to replace the cylinder with a new Lycoming Cylinder Kit that included new valves, valve springs, piston, rings and install kit instead of paying 2/3 the cost to rework our old cylinder assembly. We also found a broken tooth on the starter ring gear so we decided to replace the ring gear while the plane was down. As of February 1st, the the cylinder is installed and we are getting the plane ready for its first cylinder break in flight. We hope to have the plane back in the air the first week of February, weather permitting.

  The cold weather has made it more difficult to work on the RV so we set up Larrys tent with some added side panels to help keep the heat in. It works very well and we were able to keep it comfortable with a just a small electric heater.

  

  Tent set up around the engine

  

  Larry delivering the new piston

  

  New #3 Cylinder installation

N20843 Cessna 172

• Annual Inspection - The Cessna Annual Inspection was completed on January 22nd. In addition to the Annual Inspection, the following items were also addressed.
  • Replaced LH and RH brake pads with new RA66-105 pads
  • Serviced LH and RH tires with Nitrogen
  • Replaced Fuel Strainer Drain Control and rebuilt gascolator with new seal kit
  • Replaced Mixture and Carb Heat Controls and cables
  • Installed new flap roller hardware and McFarlane STC SA01074WI flap rollers.
  • Rebuilt Fuel Tank Selector valve with McFarlane rebuild Kit
  • Installed 2 new lower cowl fastener retainers
  • Replaced RH panel Plastic overlay and improved attachment method for both overlays to screws
  • Relocated remote ELT Control Panel from RH panel to LH panel (now below Vertical Speed Indicator)
  • Replaced Landing Light Disconnect Molex connector
  • Complied with AD 2011-10-09 repetitive 100 hour seat rail and seat inspection.
  • Replaced air inlet filter with new BA-6108 filter.
  • Cleaned belly of the airplane (thanks Tim!!)
  

  Cessna panel with new plastic overlay on RH side

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

• Brake Issue - On 29 January, we had pilot reports of a soft LH brake pedal. If you pumped the LH pedal a few times, it became firm again. Since there were no signs of fluid leaks at the LH wheel or master cylinder, we suspect the cylinder piston o-ring has failed and it is leaking internally. We ordered a cylinder rebuild kit and will rebuild the cylinder when the parts arrive on 3 Feb.

Copyright © 2018, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated January 2021 .