"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 29 March 2011

From The President - By Todd Michal

Dear Members,

Thanks to John, Dale, Shiv, Bob, and Jim for completing the Arrow Annual Inspection this month. The exhaust system was worn and new mufflers and overhauled muffler shrouds were installed. John has a summary of the annual in the maintenance section below.

Garmin announced their new panel mounted GPS units to replace the GNS-430 and GNS-530 this month. The new units are operated by touch screen and the larger GTN-750 displays approach charts and supports a remote intercom and transponder. These units are set up to support ADS-B traffic and weather as well as XM weather. It may be best to go ahead with our approved plan to install the Aera 510 with XM weather GPS and evaluate the new Garmin GTN-650/750 units for a potential future upgrade.

Happy Takeoffs!

Todd

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Fuel prices for the month increased on average by about $0.50 per gallon; that resulted in a $4 per hour increase in the flight rate for the Cessna, and a $5 increase for the Arrow. Flight hours for the month were low.

The treasury balance remains at desired levels, just over $1,000; adjusted treasury is slightly in the red, due to member credit balances.

Fly safely!

Mike

Maintenance - by John

N20843

Tire Replacement - The RH Main tire and tube were replaced with a new tire and tube on 15 March.
Door Handle The pilot inner door handle was reported inoperative on 11 March and was fixed on 12 March.

N2242N

Annual Inspection - The Arrow annual started on 25 Feb and was completed on 13 Mar. The compression test results were very good with readings of #1-78, #2-76, #3-77, #4-78. In addition to the annual inspection, the following efforts were also completed:
1. Replace Spark plugs with new REM38E Spark Plugs
2. Removed and installed overhauled Skytec starter
3. Replaced air filter with new Brackett BA10 air filter
4. Replaced Upper Cowl engagement pins with new pins and replaced lower cowl bushings with new bushings
5. Reinforced LH stiffener on upper cowl with added fiberglass plies
6. Painted battery box with acid proof paint and serviced battery
7. Installed new alternator belt
8. Installed 2 new mufflers, overhauled muffler shrouds, new No. 1 cylinder exhaust riser with new hardware, and installed new muffler air inlet hose.
9. Added flap step placard per Piper Service Letter 793
10. Replaced unreadable wing tank fuel placards with new fuel placards
11. Added nose gear tow limit placards
12. Installed Re-webbed pilot and copilot shoulder harnesses
13. Replaced main gear brake pads with new RA66-105 brake pads.
14. Readjust Emergency Gear extension system per maintenance manual.
15. Readjust Trim indicator to correctly indicate trip position. For take-off, the indicator is now just forward of the "up" position
16. Added new emergency gear lever placards.
ELT - The new ACK 406/121.5 MHz E-04 ELT for the Arrow has not arrived yet. The old 121.5 ELT was removed to prevent GPS signal loss until the new ELT is installed.
Nose Landing Gear Down Limit Switch - On 19 March, a squawk was reported that the gear down light was going out intermittently during taxi and sometimes in flight. Multiple gear swing check on the ground finally indicated a bad gear down micro-switch. The micro-switch was replaced with a new switch on 22 March and the system checks OK with multiple ground gear swings.

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