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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 January 2024

From The President - By Steve

Dear Members,

For those of you that have been dealing with the Cessna hangar door failing to close properly you will be happy to know Spirit maintenance showed up Friday and cut and welded the bottom door guide and squared up the door with 2 new cables. It is back to normal.

Spirit notified us that Runway 8R and 26L will be closed from 8 AM to 2 PM on Tuesday, February 6th (weather permitting) for in pavement lighting repair, pavement repair, and surveying. Runway 8L and 26R will be closed from 8 AM to 11 AM on Wednesday, February 7th for surveying.

I wanted to tell you we have renewed our insurance with Starr. We requested and received reduced "not in motion" coverage for the RV and Arrow that reflects the fact the engines are not in our possession. After the engines are installed we will change to full coverage and insure for the correct replacement value.

I have signed yearly leases on all three hangars that are renewable for 4 years. The monthly rate is going up from $300 to $340 per month.

Also a reminder to let Brian Williams know of any updates to your medical or flight review so we keep the member status page current.

Steve

Treasurer's Report - by T.J

BILLING STATEMENT

Comments:

• Thanks everyone for sending in their receipts! Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.
• As discussed in last month's billing statement, dues need to be increased in 2024 to accomodate rising insurance and hangar costs. Please see the final section.

BALANCE SHEET

• Consistent with last month, we spent funds for the RV and Arrow and these amounts are reflected in cash, with an increase in Work in Progress. We will continue to record here until the planes are placed back into service at which time the improvement account will be "zero'd out" and the planes will be recorded at fair market value.
• We spent $19,858 on insurance in the month as detailed in the section below. Unfortunately, in mid-2024, we will incur another increase in insurance as the RV and Arrow currently only have hull insurance on the ground. We will ensure air coverage before the aircraft are placed back into service.
• Please let me know if you have any questions.

Insurance

DUES

• As stated last month, we haven't raised dues since June of 2022 (when we raised from $160 to $170).
• However, we need to raise dues effective January 2024, primarily to cover rising insurance and hangar costs.
• Starting in January 2024, dues will be $185 as follows:

   Maintenance - by John

N202CR RV-7A

• Engine - Signature Engines provided a status on the Engine Overhaul as of 2 February
  • Aircraft Specialites Services advised us on 1/11 that they would need an additional four weeks on the crankshaft repairs… so it should be coming back by mid-February.
  • The spare case we sent is still at DIVCO and should be coming back mid to latter part of February.
  • Signature will need approximately two weeks after the case gets back to complete the engine which is roughly mid March
  • Signature sent photos of our original case. They said the original case had a spun /fractured bearing on the center main. The aluminum from the bearing spinning in the case once it broke the tab locks and then wedging the bearing into the case produced aluminum debris. The bearing itself also broke into pieces.

    

N20843 Cessna 172M

• Oil Change - On 22 January, the oil and filter were changed with 7 QTS Phillips 20W50 Victory oil and a Tempest A448110-2 oil filter. The filter was clean with no metal particles. The spark plugs were cleaned, gapped and rotated.

• Strange Manifold Pressure readings - During a flight on 29 January, Larry reported that the manifold pressure readings on the JPI engine monitor went over red line to approximately 36 inches with the corresponding %HP reading of 115% during climb out (photo below). After the flight, we checked the manifold pressure lines for blockage or other issues but didn't find any problems. Larry took it up again for a quick check flight and the manifold pressure readings were more normal but the %HP readings still seemed too high. We plan to take it up next week and adjust the HP Factor in the Engine Monitor. The Manifold Pressure and %HP indications are a nice to have feature but are not required for flight. Just use the RPM indication for power settings.

  

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

• RH Wing - Flying T received our final payment and has the wing ready to ship. They currently plan to deliver the wing and repaired cowl and nose gear doors to us on February 7th.
• Engine - Just talked to Poplar Grove Airmotive today (Feb 2) and they said the our engine made it to Inspection table and the tear down and preliminary inspection should be complete next week.
• Propellor - Since our current prop can't be overhauled, Memphis Propellor has been trying to find another prop core that they can overhaul. An overhauled prop will be roughly $7,000 to $8,000. If they can't find a used prop to overhaul in a week or two, we may have to order a new propellor which would be $10,400.

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