"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 18 June 2002

From The President - By Mike Piccirilli

Dear Members,

Not much new to discuss this month, so my mind wanders to the outstanding items shown below:

Paint: Randy, can you call the painter and make the arrangement to touch up the airplane. I believe John would up with the cans of paint.
Annual meeting: John, can you go ahead and schedule our annual get together.
Headliner: Anybody have any experience working with the spray glue adhesive?
Installation of intercom and avionics cooling fan: Perhaps this can be scheduled at the same time as the painting.

Happy Landings!
Pic

Treasurer's Report - by Marlin Sipe

With the slightly higher insurance, the Adjusted Treasury decreased by about $160, but it still looks very healthy with $1526 for maintenance and improvements.

We received the assessment for the Personal Property Tax. My initial guess at the start of the year (shown in the Escrow section) assumed an increase in value, just like most years. The assessed value was actually slightly lower than last year! The reduced assessed value reflects reports from other flying clubs that show aircraft values have fallen anywhere from 10% to 30% since 9/11. That should work out to a lower tax than (but within $100 of) what's in the Balance Statement. That's close enough that I won't bother adjusting the Escrow balances... just let it fall out at the end of the year.

Insurance - by Todd Michal

I just renewed our policy over the phone (thanks Marlin for the reminder) for one more year.

We are once again covered. The premium is $2755 and the deductibles are unchanged at $200.

Annual Club Meeting - by John Heilmann

In order to plan the date of our next annual meeting, please send me an e-mail on what dates you can't attend a meeting in July and your preferred day for the meeting (week night or saturday morning). I will be out of town from June 27th until July 2nd and then again from July 12th until July 25th. Once we get some promising dates, we will pick a weekday (M-TH) evening or Saturday morning for the meeting time. Hopefully this won't be as difficult as it was last year.

Upcoming Medical and BFR Expirations - by Todd Michal

The following Medicals and BFR's will expire in the next few months. Please let me know when you have them renewed.

Todd's BFR is due in July
Marlin's BFR is due in July
John's Medical is due in July
Mike's BFR is due in August

Maintenance - by John Heilmann

With the recent reports on the cause of Governor Carnahan's crash and other similar crashes, Parker sent out a letter strongly encouraging aircraft owners to add back-up vacuum systems or an electric gyro back-up. Since an AD has not been issued, this letter is not mandatory.

Parker Hannifin Corporation
Airborne Division
May 2002

To: Owners/Operators of Single-Engine and Multi-Engine Piston Aircraft

This letter is a follow-up and reinforcement of the June 2000 Parker Airborne letter mailed to aircraft owners/operators which emphasized the importance of the Airborne Service Letter Number 31, SAFETY WARNING - Vacuum/Pressure Gyroscopic Flight Instrument Power System. This Service Letter states, in part, A BACK-UP PNEUMATIC POWER SOURCE FOR THE AIR DRIVEN GYROS, OR A BACK-UP ELECTRIC ATTITUDE GYRO INSTRUMENT, MUST BE INSTALLED IN ALL AIRCRAFT WHICH FLY IFR.

A copy of Service Letter Number 31 and a copy of the FAA pamphlet THE SILENT EMERGENCY (Pneumatic System Malfunction), which discusses the relationships between pneumatic system failure in IFR flight and aircraft accidents, can be printed using the Airborne Website www.parker.com/airborne or ordered at no-charge by calling our Technical Service Hotline 1-800-382-8422.

Also, Parker Airborne has recently published revisions to service instructions in the form of Service Letters which include mandatory inspection intervals and mandatory replacement times for its various air pumps and other pneumatic components. This information is summarized in the attached SUMMARY OF MANDATORY SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AIRBORNE PNEUMATIC COMPONENTS (Sl300-17).

Additional copies of the SUMMARY OF MANDATORY SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AIRBORNE PNEUMATIC COMPONENTS along with copies of the referenced Service Letters can be printed using the Airborne Website www.parker.com/airborne or ordered at no-charge by calling our Technical Service Hotline 1-800-382-8422.

As an owner/operator, we ask that you become familiar and comply with the attached SUMMARY OF MANDATORY SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AIRBORNE PNEUMATIC COMPONENTS and the referenced Service Letters. In addition, you must ensure the aircraft you fly is well maintained and airworthy and contains a back-up system to your pneumatically powered gyro flight instruments. It is vital that your aircraft pneumatic system is maintained in accordance with the Airframe Manufacturer's and Component Manufacturer's pneumatic systems maintenance instructions, mandatory inspection intervals and mandatory replacement times for air pumps and other pneumatic components.

Parker Airborne's primary concern is safety and it should be yours for yourself and your passengers.

Maintenance Actions - A good month for maintenance with only a few servicing actions to report. Randy serviced the nose strut and John put some air in the left main tire and reconnected a landing light wire that came loose.

Aircraft Improvements - Randy was right about the headliner needing replacement. There are many internet articles about trying to re-glue headliners when they start to separate and how this doesn't work. The foam backing deteriorates (crumbles) which makes it almost impossible to re-glue. Every article says the headliner must be replaced. Airtex has a headliner kit for a C-172 for $300. On the Painting, Randy is calling the painter to see when he will be available to paint the plane. John and Marlin are working on the intercom panel and harness and hopefully these will be ready shortly. Business trips, vacation and other work has delayed completion of this effort.

$2,000,000 Dead Battery - by John Heilmann

The story goes that a doctor was having problems starting his aircraft and he traced the problem to a dead battery. So with the ignition on, a little choke and brakes "off", he attempted to prop start the aircraft. The plane started quickly, but since the brakes were off, it started down the ramp at a high taxi speed. After mowing down five light aircraft belonging to a local flying club, the plane finally came to rest after slicing up the twin shown above. The total damage came to just under 2 million dollars!!!!

Upcoming Local Fly-ins - by John Heilmann

LEE'S SUMMIT, MISSOURI - A Fly-in Pancake Breakfast takes place June 22 at Lee's Summit Municipal Airport (LXT). Sponsored by EAA Chapter 91. Contact Pam Ratliff, 816/358-1458.

FAA Private and Instrument Test Questions

See how much you remember from your FAA Private Pilot and Instrument Rating Written Test by taking a quick 10 question test. Submit your answers and you will receive the correct answers and your score. (Don't worry, only you see the test results and your score.) This is a quick and easy way to keep familiar with the FARs. Use the links below and try to get a 100%:

The links above take you to Kip's FAA written Test Preparation Site. This site can be found directly at: http://w3.one.net/~kip/faatest.html

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