St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 25 May 2012

From The President - By Pic

Dear Members,

We had 2/3 of the members make it to our club meeting on May 12th at the Fox and Hound. I believe the luncheon format worked well especially with the separate meeting room, good food and drink. Thanks to Charley for arranging it and to John for providing the audio-visual equipment! Charley took minutes and they are included in the Secretary's report below. We distributed the new corporate share certificates at the meeting. For those members not in attendance, Charley will get them to you. Please send you old ones to Charley.

I received a commitment from Dom Bausano for Mike Warakomski's share and the members approved Dom's application for membership at our meeting. Dom is retired and in the middle of closing on his house in Houston and finding a new home in St Louis. Dom has given me his check and I have checked him out in the 172. Please help me welcome Dom to the club!

As I worked on finding a replacement member, I contacted 8 people that had contacted the club through our website over the past year or so. Though some said they might be interested in the future and to "keep them on the list", only Dom was ready to commit. In order to re-establish the clubs waiting list, I am reinvigorating advertising the club with a flyer on the bulletin board in the Spirit Pilot Shop and placing tri-fold pamphlets in the office at the Creve Coeur airport.

On May 26th, John and I were up in the 172 taking photos of John Housley's Pitts S2 for an upcoming article in Sport Aerobatics magazine. After taking several shots of the Pitts, we met up with Shiv over Washington airport for some air to air photos of the Arrow and Cessna. A few of the best shots are shown below. John will be adding more of the photos to the Website Photo Gallery.

Happy Landings!

Pic

Secretary's Report - by Charlie Royce

The St. Louis Flying Club Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes
Fox and Hound Restaurant
12 May, 2012
11:30 – 13:30

Members Present:
Todd Michal, Mike McBride, John Heilmann, Phillip Self, Bob Zyblut. Dale Hiltner, Mike Piccirilli, Chris Tebbe, Charley Royce, Steve Heidenreich

The 2012 Bi-Annual Meeting of the St Louis Flying Club was held on 12 May 2012 at the Fox and Hound Restaurant in Chesterfield. Lunch was a nice change and a bit more of a social event than a typical meeting.

The meeting was opened after lunch was ordered and we confirmed we had a quorum with 10 of the current 15 members in attendance. John Heilmann played a video of Shiv’s recent flight to the Bahamas. The group noted enviously that Shiv knows how to get a lot of activities into one vacation! The group also noted that throwing in a trip for the kids to Cinderella’s Royal Table was a very good idea to get the wife on board and one that could certainly be put to use by others….. Pic reported that the new entity incorporation was complete and that the total cost was $2,116. New membership certificates were signed by both Charley and Pic and distributed to members. Charley asked members to mail old share certificates to his home address which is listed on the website.

Changes required after the reincorporation include:

1. Replacing Mike McBride’s SSN on the clubs bank account with the new club tax ID number - Mike will handle this.
2. At tax time, a form 1120S will need to be filed due to the new incorporation, Chris Tebbe offered to have his wife do that.
3. In August 2013 a new aircraft filing will need to be submitted to the State of Missouri – This is the responsibility of the Club Secretary. Pic reported that although Mike Warakomski’s share has been purchased that the subsequent sale did not go as planned. The planned purchaser, identified and approved by the club, was not returning phone calls and emails. Subsequently, Pic sent out Dom Bausano's application for approval of the members. The members that were present unanimously approved Dom as a new member.

A discussion was had regarding the original intent of the limited to full member process. The general intent when the process was introduced was that the limited members would have two options at the end of 2012 with the request that they update the Club with their intentions by June 1, 2012. Those options are:

1. Pay the then current difference between their share value and the full member buy in amount, at this point they would become full members.
2. Decide to sell their share, and use assistance from the club to sell their share. Although the club will assist with marketing the shares and vetting prospective new members presented, the limited member is still responsible for the sale of their share and any financial obligations created by not selling the share. Once the share is sold, the limited member will receive the then current value of their limited share from the club.

Due to the amount of time that has passed since this limited member arrangement was established, it was decided that PIC should send a letter to all limited members outlining the above options and reminding them of the June deadline for a decision. Pic to draft a letter and circulate amongst the Club Officers for input before mailing to limited members.

Pic raised the issue of additional liability insurance the club purchased to protect John Heilmann when performing maintenance for the club aircraft as well as flight instructors while performing checkouts / training in the aircraft. A discussion was had and a couple of noteworthy points were made. One is that the current liability insurance appears to provide no protection for flight instructors in the group. The other was that if John would not be protected by this liability policy, he would need to purchase other, independent A&P insurance. No decision was made but the group did agree that clarification was required regarding exactly what protection our insurance policy provided for work performed by John and flight instructors. Chris Tebbe will obtain a written explanation from our insurance broker and report back to the group.

Mike McBride reported that the treasury is in good shape with the average price of fuel generally rising which has driven our hourly rate upwards. Once the limited member situation is settled, Mike indicated that the club will need to decide what to do with the additional funds. Will they remain in the treasury, be used for an upgrade, or other options? No decision was made, topic for further discussion in the future.

Bob Zyblut requested information regarding what we were currently paying for XM weather as well as Garmin database updates as well as the XM radio. Shiv Patil offered to pay for one year’s worth of XM Radio for the Arrow, at the end of that term the club will need to decide if they want to continue that subscription. It was not known in the group exactly what we were paying for XM Weather and database updates. Bob mentioned that there may be some cheaper ways to obtain database updates and offered to investigate them for the group. Mike McBride is to provide the group information about what has been paid for XM Weather at our next meeting. Mike will provide Bob with information regarding GPS database expenses for his investigation of cheaper alternatives.

A discussion was held surrounding the update of GPS databases in both planes and the fact that Bob Zyblut is responsible for the Arrow updates and Mike Landgraff is responsible for the Cessna updates. It was suggested that there maybe an opportunity to consolidate those and save on the subscription price. It was noted that on a couple of occasions the Cessna database has not been updated timely due to schedules etc. It was suggested that based upon what we find out about the cheapest way to update databases that it may make sense to combine those responsibilities into a single position. No action agreed to at this meeting, Bob will report back to the group with his findings at our next meeting for potential action. Charley asked for input to the responsibility matrix which was introduced at a meeting last year. The purpose of the matrix is a method for the club to keep track of important due dates and recurring action items that must be completed and who is responsible for each. The Club Secretary is responsible for updates to the matrix which will occur at each of the clubs bi-annual meetings. Charley will distribute the matrix to the group and requested that any updates be sent to him. Charley will then update the matrix with reference to the couple of items added this meeting and any new items and send to John Heilmann who will post the matrix on the website for reference.

John Heilmann presented a potential upgrade that uses a portable glareshield mounted ADS-B receiver that provides free weather and traffic information to any ipad that a pilot brought on board the aircraft. Since St Louis will not have ADS-B coverage until next year, the decision was to wait until St Louis has ADS-B coverage and see what options are available at that time.

John reported that the new engine monitor purchased last year for the Arrow will be problematic to install due to relocation of wiring required behind the panel or the required non-optimum relocation of other instruments. There is a new model available that has been STC’d for use as a primary engine instrument. This certification would allow the new monitor to be placed where our current tachometer and Manifold Pressure gages are located and would be much easier for both the pilot and copilot to view. Discussion about the lack of a tach engine hours counter was had with John agreeing to investigate any ramifications of removing the tach engine hours meter. Provided there are no major issues with removing the tach engine counter, the group voted to replace the JPI 830 with the new model EDM-900 for as much of a trade in as John could negotiate. Charley reported that he continues to be in contact with Spirit Airport Management to request a hangar closer to the Arrow / maintenance hangar. No good options have been identified to date but will continue to be pursued to get the airplanes closer together.

The next club semi-annual meeting will be held November 3rd at 10:00 – the location is TBD – Anyone with suggestions about where the meeting could be held should email Charley Royce with ideas. With no further business before the club, the meeting was adjourned at 2:00. Summary of action items discussed at this meeting:

Action Item	Responsible	Due By
Draft / send letter regarding limited member actions to limited members outlining options – officers to review and assist  with content.	M. Piccirilli	6/1/12
Mail old club Share Certificates to Charley Royce’s home address for collection	All members	6/1/12
Mail new share certificates to members not present at this meeting	C.Royce	6/1/12
Obtain written explanation from insurance company regarding what protection is provided by our “liability” rider to protect A&P and flight instructors	C. Tebbe	7/1/12
Investigate pricing options for Garmin database options for both aircraft, determine best ongoing option.	B. Zyblut	Next meeting
Investigate swap/exchange of old engine monitor for EDM-900 for potential replacement of engine Tach & MAP instruments.	J. Heilmann	Next meeting
Report to club what is being paid for XM weather (if anything) for potential renewal at end of term or cancellation of weather.	M. McBride	Next Meeting
Report to Bob Zyblut what is currently being paid for GPS database updates for use in investigation of other alternatives.	M. McBride	ASAP

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Fuel prices at TACAir rose slightly this month; hourly fuel rates for the two airplanes remained stable at $80 and $105. No unexpected expenses were incurred during the month. Flight hours were relatively strong on the Arrow, but only moderate on the C172.

The Treasury balance is showing a significant decline this month, due to the buy-out of Mike Warakomski's share. That situation will reverse itself on the next billing statement when the new funds for Dom Bausano's share purchase are reflected. At that time, I'll also adjust the member equity percentages to reflect the change in mix between Full and Limited members.

Fly safely!

Mike

   Maintenance - by John

N20843

No maintenance actions this month on the Cessna.

Cessna just issued a new 226 page supplemental inspection program for the C172 designed to help find potential corrosion and fatigue stress on its aging fleet of single-engine aircraft produced between 1946 and 1986. According to Cessna, the average age of the affected fleet is 42 years old (ours is 37 years old). Compliance deadlines for the C-172 inspection program is June 2014. The supplemental inspection program is primarily a visual process aimed at supporting the continued airworthiness of aging airframes. The inspections vary by model, aircraft age, hours of operation, usage severity, and the operating locations proximity to salt water. Some of the required inspections were already done during the engine overhaul a few years ago and many have been done during previous annual inspections. I plan to do all the required inspections during the upcoming Annual Inspection at the end of August.

N2242N

No maintenance actions to report this month on the Piper.

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