"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 22 May 2010

From The President - By Todd Michal

Dear Members,

It has been a busy month for the club with the annual inspection on the Skyhawk and the addition of a new member. Of course the big news with the annual this year is the need for an engine overhaul. We knew this time was coming, but it still came as a surprise when I heard the compression results from John. We are so fortunate to have an A&P and several mechanically talented members in the club. The contributions of John, Bob, Mike, Mike, Pic, and Dale to the annual and removing/shipping of the engine have saved the club a great deal of money. In fact, the cost of the overhaul will be less than the increase in the valuation of the C172, so thanks guys for all your work.

Shiv Patil became the 13th member of the club this month. Shiv was able to fly the C172 for one short flight before the annual, so he is eager to get back into the air. We are also working to finalize the memberships of Philip Self (14th) and Mike Kanan (15th). Both Philip and Mike have received the require 4/5 positive member vote and are working to arrange their share payments. We have two applications for the final spot and will be working to get to full membership by early June.

The birds continue to be a problem in the shade port, so continue to be on the look out for bird activity during your pre-flight inspection. We have dug several nests out of the C-172 and the Arrow. While trouble shooting a navigation light squawk in the Arrow this week, John found a nest in the left wingtip which had disconnected the wire to the navigation light! Dale has been working on a mesh cover for the arrow that would more easily cover the nose landing gear bay and would attach with bungee cords. If any of the members can sew (or has a wife that can sew), please let us know so we can finish the cover.

Charley Royce heard from the Airport Administration this week. We are next on the list for a hangar. At this point we don't know the location or the type of hangar that will become available. A vote is in progress to pre approve signing a lease on a second hangar. This will prepare us to act quickly when the hangar does become available.

The engine should be shipped back in the next couple of weeks. There will be plenty of work to get the engine installed back onto the plane and complete the annual inspection, so if you can help out, that would be great.

Happy Takeoffs!

Todd

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Fuel prices rose slightly this month at TACAir, to $5.53 per gallon; this puts the flight rates at $65 and $88 per hour. Flight hours were moderate for the month, reflecting the rainy weather we've had recently.

The Arrow equity fund balance continues to run below budget, reflecting spending in excess of budget. We are currently expecting to recover some of the shortfall, but a small assessment for Full members looks likely once our membership has been filled and all target expenditures finalized.

I have included a financial review of the overhaul and annual expense for the C172 on this month's statement. At this point, we're expecting the overhaul to cost right at $15,000; additional annual expenses should run around $3,500 (including the repair on the engine mount). The funds available to cover these expenses include the engine fund, the C172 improvement fund, and $900 in annual budget in the treasury. If these expense amounts hold, the per-member assessment to cover the funds shortfall will be just over $600 per member. I have included an assessment of $300 on this month's statement, as we'll need to maintain liquidity with the major expenses coming due prior to next month's statement. Hopefully we'll have all the annual expenses identified by the June statement, and can finalize the remainder of the assessment (hopefully very close to, or less than, this month's $300 add-on).

We're also adjusting the new member buy-in upward, from $10,783 to $11,400. This $617 increase is in line with the planned assessments for existing members, and reflects the increased valuation of the C172 following overhaul. If the actual overhaul expenses call for a larger assessment for existing members, then we'll adjust the buy-in (or assess the new members incrementally, if already in the club) to keep the contributions consistent with those of recently added full members.

Fly safely!

Mike

Maintenance - by John

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Annual Inspection - We started the annual inspection on 30 April and after a circuit around the airport to warm up the oil, we did a compression test. The results were #1 40/80, #2 75/80, #3 75/80, and #4 0/80. We checked the oil filter and screen and did not find anything. We decided to run the engine to warm it up again and try another compression test just to make sure and we got the same results. WIth 1900 hours on the engine and two cylinders below 60/80, we decided it was time for an overhaul. The engine was take to Poplar Groves Airmotive for the overhaul on 6 May. During inspection at Poplar Groves, two cracks were found in the case so we will have an additional charge for the case repair. Mike McBride stopped by on 20 April and took a few photos of the engine in the inspection cycle. The following other maintenance actions will be done along with the engine overhaul:

Muffler - We will install a new muffler. The Boeing club was in need of a muffler for one of their Cessna's and agreed to purchase our old muffler for $150.
Battery Box - The battery box was cleaned and a few thin area's were repaired with fiberglass reinforcement. The box interior was painted with acid proof battery box paint and the exterior was painted with epoxy paint.
New Contactors and high amperage wiring - New Battery, Starter, and Aux power contactor's will be installed. The old units were still working but were over 30 years old. While the engine was off, it was a good time to replace many of these older systems and wiring.
Engine Mount - We found a small crack that impacted two tubes on the engine mount. The engine mount was sent up to Wisconsin to be further inspected and weld repaired. There was a small crack in one of the joints that impacted two tubes and a gouge in one of the tubes. Two tubes were replaced and they also added four strengthening gussets that were added in production on subsequent C-172 models. The engine mount was painted yesterday and shipped back to us on 21 May.
Mixture and Carb Heat Controls - The Cessna Mixture and Carb Heat controls operate by moving a thin wire. The end of the wire is crimped and over time, the end of the wire gets weak an fails. When this happens, the control cable is rerouted to remove slack and the end is recrimped to the control. Over time and multiple end recrimps, there is no longer enough slack in the cable to reach the carburetor or air box control. We have reached that point and will install new Mixture and Carb Heat controls.
Oil Sump Heater Pad - We will need to install a new oil sump heat pad when we get the engine back.

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Oil Change - The oil and filter were changed on the Arrow on 16 May. We also cleaned, gapped, and rotated the spark plugs and retimed the magnetos.
SlickStart Magneto Booster - With reports of fuel injected engines being difficult to start, we installed a Slickstart system on the Arrow on 16 May. The Slickstart is automatically powered by the aircraft battery whenever the starter is on and significantly boosts the sparks energy and duration during the starting process. Arrow starts after the slickstart was installed usually take less than 3 revolutions. The slick start unit was installed in the lower left hand cowl area, just in front of the closed off are for the fuel drain. It has three wires going to it as shown in the following picture.
Directional Gyro - The DG was removed for repair on 23 May after flight squawks that the DG was slow to spin up and was precessing excessively. The DG will be sent to Century Instrument Corp in Wichita for repair and hopefully will be back for installation on 30 May. A temporary bypass hose was installed that allows the Attitude indicator to work and the aircraft operate VFR until the DG is reinstalled.
New Cowl Bushings - New forward cowl bushings were installed on 11 May.

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