St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 28 Mar 2013

From The President - By Pic

Dear Members,

I was going to say that finally warmer weather appears to be with us when we got the snow dumped on us. Hopefully more seasonal Spring weather will be with us soon, and with the time change providing sunlight after working hours, will provide a lot more opportunities to fly during the week!

The photo above shows the latest addition to the club office, a 39" TV/monitor. The officers unanimously approved it's purchase in order to act as both a projection screen for training and club meetings (John has been borrowing a loaner from Boeing but that source is being eliminated in the future) as well as for club entertainment. John found it at Sam's for $300. Charley had donated a smaller flat screen monitor that we thought would work but unfortunately it doesn't have a tuner and does not have an HD driver. Kip is trying to make this work with the flight simulator.

The Arrow master had been left on accidentily during the month resulting in a totally discharged battery requiring a replacement. I strongly suggest leaving the anti-collision lighting switch on when leaving the plane. It's a great reminder that the master is on if the lights are flashing as your leaving the plane (lesson learned through personal experience)!

Happy Landings,

Pic

Treasurer's Report - by PIC

Fuel went up 10%, to $6.59/gal, raising the hourly costs to $85 and $104. The members purchasing fuel off-field were able to save appreciably because of the lower rates they found. The maintenance costs this month were high due to the need for the Arrow battery replacement and extensive parts needed for the Cessna. A slight reduction in member Share Value to $10,119. Below is my analysis of Maintenance and Annual Funds.

Analysis of Maintenance and Annuals Funds:

We've been budgeting $15/hr for C-172 maintenance and $20/hr for the Arrow. In addition, we've budgeted $900 & $1,200 respectively for annuals. So how do our costs compare to these budgets? For the last 2 years, I'm pleased to say the total costs and budgets are very similar, though in prior years there were some spikes, both high and low. The 2 charts below show the annual budget vs costs for each airplane. On the 172 chart, you can see that 2007 was a low cost year and 2009 was high (replaced mags, flap indicator, digital tach, brakes, vacuum pump, alternator, tires/tubes) which required a $1,200 assessment ($150 per member). On the Arrow chart, the first year was low (mainly since we purchased it in February and the annual was paid by the prior owner). The past financial records didn't really segregate the annual expenses, since they were mostly shown the same as maintenance. I will keep these costs segregated this year, and in the future, so we can see if our budgeted amounts are correct. For now, I don't see any reason to change the maintenance or annual rates.

Analysis of the Improvement Fund:

The improvement fund is to add new or substantially upgraded Avionics, Interior and Paint. Up until 2000, this fund would have only been used for occasional paint and interior re-dos. The radios and transponder would have typically lasted 20+ years. In the past 13 years or so, it seems like innovations in Avionics will never stop (GPS, moving maps, satellite weather, ADS-B, engine monitors, etc). The C-172 paint cost was $7,589 (in 2007) and interior cost was $2,816 (in 2003). I believe the Arrows interior was also done around 2005 and the paint in 2009. Hopefully, that work will last around 20 years. Even so, the 172 interior is already at 10 years old. The chart below shows all the work done to the 172 in 2007 and that we spent at the budgeted level in 2008 & 2009. The improvement fund assessment for the past 3 years has been $200/mo or $2,400 annually. In 2010 & 2011, we spent more than budget to get the Arrow panel upgraded and upgrade the engine monitors in both planes. We basically didn't spend anything in 2012, which corresponds to our current fund value of $2,365. I'm concerned that the improvement fund alone (or at the current rate) will not be enough to cover the Avionics upgrades we will want (ADS-B, etc) and still be high enough to cover the eventual paint and interior upgrade desires. Of course, the option exists to charge an assessment to cover any shortfall for these type of large bills as we did in 2007 to cover the Cessna paint, WAAS upgrade, and JPI engine monitor. We'll need to analyze this annually.

Fly Safely!

PIC

   Maintenance - by John

N20843

The following Cessna maintenance actions were taken this month:

• RH Brake - After a number of maintenance actions on the RH brake, the problem was traced to the bad brake line going from the fuselage through the strut fairing to the wheel cylinder. Over the years, the strut fairing attach screws slowly wore a small hole in the brake line that allowed the brake fluid to leak out and air get in the system. A new brake line was ordered on 15 March but it was on back order and has not arrived yet. I called the company on 28 Mar and they said it should arrive early next week.

• Tachometer - The new mechanical tach arrived and will be installed shortly when the actual tach hours reach the tach hours that were set on the new tach.

N2242N

• Battery - A new sealed Concorde RG-35AXC battery was installed on 7 March. The old battery had almost 3 years on it and would have probably not passed the capacity check at the annual inspection next month.

• Oil Filter Metal Analysis - We received the metal analysis results from the Arrow oil filter for the last two changes as shown below. The good news is that they classify the amount of metal as "a minor amount". The analysis shows that the metal is AMS# 6270 or 6272 and I am in the process of finding out what parts are made from this alloy.
  

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