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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 26 May 2016 |
From The President - By Charley
Dear Members:
It was great to see such a good turnout at our recent club meeting. Steve Heidenreich published minutes and the materials presented at the meeting, if you did not see them a copy can be found in the Secretary's section below. Most items discussed were informational updates but I'll highlight two noteworthy items. We decided to put a Garmin G5 into the Citabria now which will be used as a primary flight display, replacing mechanical instruments. Pic outlined a view of our current finances and pointed out that our engine fund is not quite adequate for everything we would want to do during an overhaul . A small steering committee of members volunteered to evaluate the situation and come back to the club with a recommendation about the shortfall. John Waddell brought BBQ again and we had a couple of instructors and one prospective member join us for our social time. Thanks again to everyone who contributed to making the meeting a success!
I'm happy to report that Larry Wehrman has been approved as a member and his membership was finalized this week. Larry has been instrumental in many repairs on club aircraft over the past couple of years and will be a great addition to the club!
You recently received a note from John outlining the issue of a stuck valve on the Cessna. There is more detailed information below. A huge thanks goes out to both Kip and Larry Wehrman as they spent the better part of a day troubleshooting and ultimately resolving the issue with fouling in the valve guide. The best easy to prevent sticking valves is to lean for ground operations and at cruise. Thanks guys!
Geoff Gallaway has generously offered to let club members use his GoPro camera with mounts as well as his iPad Mini mount that fits on an aircraft yoke. Because the drawer where we currently store items is getting full, the upper two drawers were cleared out and the equipment is now stored as follows. The lower drawer stores the headphones, the center drawer stores the tie-down stakes and ropes, and the upper drawer stores the GoPro camera and mounts. Thanks again Geoff!
Bruce Ballew has provided information about an amateur aerobatic event put on by the International Aerobatic Club at the Salem, IL airport June 3rd through the 5th. Pilots check in on Friday and then enjoy pizza, beer and social time that night. The event officially starts at 8 or 9 on Saturday weather permitting. The event has been going on since sometime in the mid 1970's and is apparently a great time for aerobatic enthusiasts or even pilots with mild interest in aerobatics. There are a couple of motels in Salem where people stay if you want to participate in the Friday evening social or do not want to make the 1.5 hr drive in the morning.
We have a couple of members working on learning aerobatics in the Citabria and eventually I am sure one of them will compete in such an event. Tim Volk and Steve Heidenreich have been talking about heading down to see some of the competition and possibly volunteer, I am sure they would be willing to fill you in on more details if you have an interest in the event.
Safe skies,
Charley
Secretary's Report - by Steve
Our meeting on May 7 had 17 members attend and included informative presentations from Charley Royce, TJ Smyka, Mike Piccirilli and John Heilmann.
We had 3 of the club instructors and several prospective members join us afterwards for a great BBQ lunch. Thanks again to John Waddell for the pulled pork and side dishes!
Minutes - St. Louis Flying Club May 7, 2016 Meeting
17 Attending – Charley Royce, Mike Piccirilli, John Heilmann, TJ Smyka, Steve Heidenreich, Mike Landgraf, John Waddell, Don Hamblen, Tim Volk, Rocky Dollarhide, Chris Tebbe, Geoffrey Gallaway, Jim Georgen, Dale Hiltner, Todd Michal, Richard Voth, Richard Hoyt.
Charley Royce opened the meeting at 0945.
Old Business – Reviewed the insurance requirement for 200 PIC hours before obtaining a signoff in the Citabria. The members present were polled to see if there was any interest in requesting that the 200 hour requirement be lowered. There is currently no interest in changing that requirement. The Responsibility List was updated to show Geoff Gallaway replacing Phil Self on the cleaning supply duty.
New Business – The President explained the process for prospective members. The process is not “1st come/1st served” but rather a rating based on response, interest level, experience (CFI, CFII, AP, IA), etc., and from there a prospect that is deemed the “best fit” for the club is offered to the members for a vote.
The recent By-Law change regarding OshKosh scheduling is now in the latest edition.
The President explained the process for nominating Officers and the duties involved for each position with the intention that members plan for the Fall elections.
VP Report by TJ Smyka – The VP described the process for tracking currency regarding Medical and BFR. The roster is updated monthly and reminders sent to members getting close or past the renewal dates. It is ultimately the members responsibility to maintain currency. The President noted that in Missouri a member that is involved in an accident and is not current (BFR, Medical, night, etc.) has breached the contract and the insurance company is no longer obligated to cover the damages.
Treasurers Report by Mike Piccirilli – Flight hours for the 3 airplanes were reviewed. There was a review of the Treasury status. Assets up 60k account Citabria and Arrow upgrades. Current share value is $10,579. Current aircraft values are: Arrow - $77,xxx, Cessna - $53,xxx, Citabria - $51,xxx. These numbers come from AOPA’s VREF and are subjective, including additions/subtractions for paint, interior, and wings and fabric on the Citabria. Don Hamblen offered to get Blue Book values for the airplanes. The spare parts inventory is currently $1400 and as explained by John Heilmann is a balance between inventory cost and airplane down time.
The Treasurer noted that the Engine Fund has no adjustment for inflation and feels this should be taken into account as some of the projected overhaul dates are so far in the future that the current costs are not realistic. A committee consisting of Jim Georgen, TJ Smyka, Don Hamblen and John Heilmann was formed to investigate the possible shortfall and recommend funding options.
Maintenance Report by John – The Citabria upgrades are on track including a new radio, transceiver, intercom and altitude encoder. The fabric will need to be replaced eventually and a decision made as to in-house or outsource.
The Cessna had a new vacuum pump installed and also a seat retainer. The pilot side seat retainer functions best using the L side of the seat release.
The Arrow just came out of the annual with new tires, avionics master switch, new LH gear bushings, new nose gear rod ends, and a 500 hour mag inspection with some new parts. John explained the changes in LS/Exp avionics okayed for our planes and the cost savings associated with that equipment. With the possibility of more changes to come John recommends waiting on upgrades for the Arrow and Cessna with the thought that the Garmin G5 would be a good fit in both those planes.
The G5 could go in the Citabria now and a motion by Tim Volk (Don Hamblen second) to proceed with that was passed 15 – 1. The work on the pass through between B2 and B3 is in progress, new circuit box and ceiling lights are installed in B3 (thanks to Heilmann and Bausano), and plans are for eventually enclosing the 3 hangars floor to ceiling.
OshKosh drawing – with only 2 members requesting planes for OshKosh and both with the Arrow as first choice it was mutually agreed that a coin toss would determine selection. Result was Mike Landgraf has the Arrow and Geoff Gallaway has the Cessna for that week.
Meeting Adjourned at 1130.
Treasurer's Report - by PIC
Members,
The price of fuel inched upwards to $5.63/gallon but didn’t result in any aircraft rate changes. You can save yourself 25% by using the self-serve fuel; recent rate @ $4.20/gal. Dues stay at $119 and the Share Value is now at $10,689 after the adjustments discussed at the May meeting. I upped the Hangar Facility value by $550 to reflect the electrical/lighting work performed mostly in the Citabria hangar which was paid from the Improvement Fund.
Maintenance - by John 
N8746V Citabria 7ECA
- Oil Change - The Citabria oil and filter were changed on May 16th. The spark plugs were cleaned, gapped and rotated. The oil sample was sent in for analysis and the results are shown below. All the readings have gone down since the last change and they are all in the normal range.
N20843 Cessna 172M
- Oil Change - The Cessna oil and filter were changed on May 18th and the oil sample analysis are shown below. The iron reading went up since the last change but is still within the normal range for this engine.
- Stuck Valve - Kip was back in town and was taking the Cessna up for a flight on 16 May. After start and initial warm-up, the engine suddenly went very rough. He shut it down and called me about the issue. Larry Wehrman stopped by and they had pinpointed the issue to a stuck exhaust valve on cylinder #4. This is relatively common on this engine as it was designed for 80 octane fuel and the 100 octane we use (all that's available) has more lead in it than the engine was designed for. The lead deposits get into the exhaust valve guide which reduces the clearance to the exhaust valve which causes it to get stuck sometimes. This usually occurs on engine start and warm up although it can occur in flight as well.
Lycoming has a Service Instruction for how to fix this issue. You essentially push the exhaust valve into the cylinder and then move it around with mechanical fingers and other objects until the valve stem protrudes out the lower spark plug hole. You can then remove the lead deposits and clean up the valve stem stem with scotchbrite. We reamed out the valve guide to the correct diameter (.4995). The hard part was to then try and manipulate the valve stem back into the valve guide using mechanical fingers (and other homemade tools) working through the small spark plug holes and exhaust port. After several hours of trying to do this and many near misses, Larry and Kip were able to get the valve stem to go back in the guide. After putting it back together, we took it up for a test flight and everything worked correctly.
The spark plugs were also cleaned, gapped and rotated as most of them were removed for the valve repair.
Kip using borescope video to manipulate valve stem to extend out of lower spark plug hole to clean
Photo of Exhaust valve stem showing lead deposits on valve stem and valve seat area (from borescope video)
Larry Wehrman and Kip working through spark plug holes to try and get valve stem back in valve guide
N2242N Piper Arrow IV
- Annual Inspection - The annual inspection started on April 25th and was completed on May 6th with the work and inspection results as noted below. Thanks to Dom, Steve, Tim, and Larry for helping with the annual inspection this year.
- Compression test results: #1 - 77/80, #2 - 78/80, #3 - 76/80, #4 - 77/80.
- Installed 8 new Tempest UREM37BY spark plugs.
- Changed oil and filter and added Camguard. Oil analysis results shown below.
- Completed 500 hour Magneto inspection on both LH an RH magnetos. Replaced coil, contact point assembly, and distributor block and gear on LH mag and coil, contact point assembly, distributor gear, and carbon brush on RH Magneto. Reinstalled magnetos with new LW12681 gaskets and timed magnetos to 20 deg BTDC.
- Repaired Cylinder #3 lower harness lead with new Slick M6203 Hardware.
- Installed new RG-67193 Valve cover gaskets on Cylinders No. 1 and 3.
- Complied with ACK Technologies Service Advisory E-04.1 and installed an dE-04.10.1.12 Static Suppressor at the base of the ELT antenna
- Removed unused GPS antenna and replace antenna with a cover plate.
- Installed new bushings in LH Main gear bracket and truss assemblies.
- Tightened and resifted throttle and mixture control end hardware at the fuel control.
- The nose gear actuator rod end was replaced with a new bolt and bushing.
- The shimmy damper attaching hardware was replaced with a new bolt and bushing.
- Eight loose rivets in the right hand nose gear door and hinge were replaced with new 1/8th inch rivets.
- Performed gear retraction and extension tests.
Copyright © 2015, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated May 2016
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