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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 July 2017 |
From The President - By Charley
Dear Members:
Congratulations to Kevin Gauze and Rick Hoyt, who both completed their Citabria check out within the last month. Great work to you both! The ranks of our Citabria pilots continue to grow as members discover the fun and flying skills to be had with the taildragger. Also congratulations to Larry Wehrman who just completed his Arrow Checkout today.
John Heilmann, John Housley, Pic, Kip, and Mike Landgraf made it up to Oshkosh this year and the big news at the show is more experiment/light sport avionics were approved for Certified aircraft. As hoped, Garmin will have an autopilot approved for the C-172 by the end of this year. It will be fully integrated with the G5 displays and GNS/GTN GPS/NAV/COMs and will provide GPSS roll steering guidance to automatically fly holds and approaches. The STC will also include an option to add electric trim to the Cessna so the autopilot can automatically adjust trim on its own as needed. If we don't go with the electric trim option, the G5 will display large trim up or down arrows when manual trim adjustments are needed. We are updating the presentation shown at the last club meeting to include the latest Avionic updates from Oshkosh.
In preparation for the Citabria recover planned in a few years, Pic and John took the Stits Poly Fiber Fabric recovering course at Oshkosh. During the three hour class, they covered a horizontal stabilizer to get familiar with the fabric glueing and shrinking processes.
On the way back from Oshkosh, Pic stopped by the American Champion plant and took some great pictures which are included below. Pic was able to discuss how American Champion recovers and paints aircraft like ours and obtained some great information for discussion when N8746V is due for a recover. We are hopefully a few years away from needing a recover but it is always good to get information early. Thanks Pic!
Photos above shows black tube frame with wooden bulkheads and stringers prior to fabric covering. Stringers attached with brass wire.
Photos above show 3 popular options; plexiglass panel over cockpit, Composite floor (saves weight) and baggage compartment door.
Tim Volk coordinated the repacking of the club parachutes early in July also, thanks Tim! Due to members like Tim who volunteer to maintain various items in our club we are able to keep costs low and aircraft and equipment availability high, thanks for all those who volunteer of your time and talents!
We typically try to update our Club Handbook once a year and it’s that time of year again. If you have any items in the current club handbook that need updating, please be sure to submit them to myself or Dom Bausano. Speaking of people who pitch in, Dom has been our “keeper” of the handbook since it was handed off from its original author, Pic. Pic created the handbook as our club grew and more members needed a standard orientation for a growing number of items. The handbook is a great reference for new and existing members alike and has streamlined new member orientation significantly. We periodically update the handbook so that all members have information on how to handle a situation or operate a piece of club equipment. If there is something you feel would be beneficial to other club members to have added by all means submit it! Thanks Dom for your faithful maintenance of this important document. It can be found on the website under the “Club Documents” section.
Safe skies,
Charley
Treasurer's Report - by T.J
Fellow Members,
Members,
The flight hours continue to pick up with almost 50 hours flown this month (49.71).
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions.
Blue Skies
TJ
Maintenance - by John 
N8746V Citabria 7ECA
Oil Change - The oil and filter were changed on 20 July. The oil sample was sent in for analysis.
N20843 Cessna 172M
No maintenance Issues to report this month.
N2242N Piper Arrow IV
Electric Trim - The electric trim is now working. The electric trim switch under the control wheel was found to be in the off position and was keeping the electric trim system from working.
Copyright © 2017, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated August 2017
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