St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 20 March 2005

From The President - By Mike Piccirilli

Dear Members,

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I took off today and flew down to Gaston's White River Resort in Arkansas. It's like we owned the place. I had called yesterday to reserve a guide and boat for 4 hours (11 to 3). We took off at 9:00. Landed on their beautiful grass strip at 10:35. Walked into the office, got my fishing license, walked down to the dock and met our guide with the boat, deck chairs, fishing gear, cooler with water and soft drinks. We were on the river at 10:55. For the next 4 hours Andrew and I caught more than 20 fish (mostly 1 - 3 pound rainbow trout). We ate at the restaurant afterwards and had seats right at the window overlooking the river (only people in the place at 3:00). We took off at 4:00 and landed back at Spirit at 5:30. It was a fantastic trip. Highly recommended. I've attached some pictures to the Photo Gallery under "PIC's Gastons Trip".

Thanks to John and Randy for swapping out the mags, wire harness, and changing the oil. The airplane performed great!

Happy Landings!

Pic

Treasurer's Report - by Marlin Sipe

The Adjusted Treasury had another nice increase this month, from $1338 to $1558. Part of this was because of the lack of flying this past month resulting in no fuel charges. Probably won't be much of an increase next month if there's a lot of flying this coming month (meaning fuel charges), and only 0.9 hours of flight time to be paid. But things are looking pretty good for the Annual in April.

Maintenance - by John Heilmann & Randy Skyles

Magneotos - Both magnetos and the harnesses were replaced on February 20th due to rough engine operation on the left magneto. The engine is now running smoothly on either mag.

Oil Change - The mineral oil that was used to break in the number 2 cylinder was changed on February 20th and replaced with Phillips X/C 20W-50. The oil filter was also changed.

Oil Analysis - We received the oil analysis results from the February 20th oil change. Since this was the analysis of the mineral oil used to break in the overhauled number 2 cylinder, you would expect to see higher wear values. There was an increase in nickel, copper, silicon, and iron readings. All the values are still well within normal ranges. The affect of using Avblend is shown starting with sample 11 below.

Oil Contaminants

Sample Date Hours Alum Iron Copper Nickel Chrome Silicon

1 9-Aug-96 50 18 47 4 4 156 6

2 30-Oct-97 54 16 52 4 4 204 3

3 19-Jun-98 47 18 51 1 4 160 10

4 23-Oct-98 45 12 39 4 5 219 5

5 15-Apr-99 31 11 39 3 5 145 8

6 15-Aug-99 60 12 45 3 8 287 8

7 15-Apr-00 52 13 45 4 8 207 8

8 19-Aug-00 50 13 45 5 6 207 6

9 10-Feb-01 54 14 46 5 5 116 7

10 7-July-01 56 13 57 3 6 124 13

11 26-Oct-01 45 10 44 3 4 83 14

12 28-Apr-02 57 14 56 3 8 165 4

13 15-Mar-03 55 12 56 3 7 108 6

14 23-Jul-03 50 12 56 3 6 112 3

15 31-Dec-03 58 16 28 3 3 57 10
16 25-Jul-04 49 12 31.6 3.2 2 54 5

17 20-Feb-05 41 12 26.9 6.2 9 36 8

AOPA Pilot Town Meeting

There will be an AOPA Pilot Town Hall Meeting at the Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center in Chesterfield, MO on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 7:30 PM. The Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center is located on 16625 Swingley Ridge Road in Chesterfield. Directions as follows:

Located about 2.5 miles east of Spirit of St. Louis Airport (SUS). From 40 West, exit 19A to stoplight and turn right Turn left onto Swingley Ridge Road to hotel on right From 40 East, exit 19A to a left onto Chesterfield Airport Rd. turn left onto Chesterfield Parkway to a left onto Swingley Ridge Rd. Hotel ahead on right.

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