St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 27 November 2015

From The President - By Charley

Dear Members:

This month brought the return of the Arrow to service after nine weeks of downtime for the collapsed right main gear as well as completion of the Citabria Annual.

A big thanks to John and all who helped with the Citabria Annual inspection, details of what was repaired are below in John's report. Unfortunately, the radio in the Citabria will need to be replaced due to multiple failures of the tuning knob assembly. John has ordered a radio that is a combination radio / intercom which will allow the removal of the current intercom that now is somewhat in the way under the panel.

Thanks to T.J. for organizing the Chili Social on November 15th and making a great chili main course as well! The weather was perfect and we had a good turnout. Two of the club applicants on the waiting list also came and were able to see the club aircraft and meet some of the members, thanks to everyone for making them feel welcome at the event!

I'd like to address aircraft fueling as our procedure of focus this month. The member handbook states that in general, after an aircraft has been flown 1.5 hours, the member using the aircraft is responsible for refueling it. Keep in mind that this is a guideline and not always a hard and fast rule. There will always be exceptions where the receiving member accepts the aircraft with less than the suggested fuel amount due to time between schedules, W&B or other perviously agreed to circumstances. There are also times where someone just forgets to fuel the plane which may be cause for a simple reminder.

Under normal circumstances, the Arrow is fueled to 'the tabs', the Cessna is "full" to the filler neck and the Citabria pilots report that 1/2 tanks seems to work the best for most W&B situations with two people which equals about 2 1/2 to 3 on the measuring stick. This guidance can also be found in the club handbook.

Please keep in mind that although you may not have time to taxi to the TacAir Yellow ramp self serve pumps, you are still responsible for calling TacAir and getting the plane refueled. If you have an instructor in the plane that you know will not want to stop at the Yellow ramp or you do not have time for the stop due to your own schedule, I suggest you call TacAir on their ASRI frequency of 131.325 to request a fuel truck as soon as it is safe to do so while you are taxiing back to the hangar. This is generally quicker than waiting until you get back to the hangar to call.

You can leave the aircraft in the alley in front of the hangar if you absolutely cannot wait for TacAir to arrive or they are particularly busy. This practice is not the preferred method and does leave the aircraft open to damage as well as being a nuisance to other pilots who want to use the alleyway as a movement Area. Keep in mind, if you choose to leave the aircraft out to be fueled, you are still responsible for the aircraft until it is secured in the hangar. Leaving the aircraft out for fuel requires TacAir to have two ramp personnel present to push the aircraft back into the hangar which can require significantly more time to complete, exposing the unattended aircraft to the ramp for an extended period.

If you forget to fuel an aircraft before leaving or the fuel truck was busy and you did not want to leave the plane out etc., please just call the next member on the calendar as a common courtesy to let them know they may need to plan for a little extra time to get the aircraft fueled and the nature of the problem.

By following guidelines in the handbook, and being considerate of each other we can help ensure that our club stays the great place we have all come to know and love!

Dom Bausano does a great job of keeping our Handbook current. If you have questions or suggestions about the Handbook, please drop a note to any Officer or Dom and we will be happy to get the item clarified or added.

Thanks to everyone who pitches in every month to keep our club costs low and the aircraft flying with a small amount of downtime!

Talk to you all next month.

Safe skies,

Charley

Treasurer's Report - by PIC

Members,

Gas has finally started to go back down lowering the A/C rates to $59, $78, and $102 respectively. The dues stay the same and the share value went up to $10,667. John was able to sell the ADF antenna for $139 net on Ebay but unfortunately the ADF was sold but was returned as non-functioning. As always, let me know if you think you see any errors or have any questions.

Pic

   Maintenance - by John

N8746V Citabria 7ECA

• Citabria Annual - The Citabria Annual inspection started on 2 November and was completed on 19 November. In addition to the annual inspection, a number of upgrades were also accomplished as listed below. Thanks to Steve Heidenrich and Tim Volk for helping out with the annual.
  • Compression test results #1-78/80, #2-77/80, #3-78/80, #4-78/80.
  • Adjusted valve tappet clearance per Lycoming Service Instruction No. 1069A.
  • Changed oil and filter with 5 QTS Phillips X/C 20W50 oil, 1 pt Avblend and CH48108 Filter. The oil analysis below shows our first analysis since we installed the oil filter.
  • Installed new Aviall ELT battery (P/N BS2166) with replacement date of 10/17.
  • Adjust LH wing -.6 degrees to correct for left wing light condition (loosened LH aft strut eyebolt 2 turns)
  • Replaced RH Main outer wheel half with new Cleveland wheel half P/N 162-00600. Reinstalled RH Main tire with new tube and regreased RH wheel bearings. Installed new RH RA66-106 brake pads.
  • Replaced rear seat PTT switch with new switch.
  • Replaced existing upper cowl fasteners with new Southco studs and receptacles.
  • Installed new rear baffle support, P/N 4-1749, and left and right rear baffle support brackets.
  • Replaced air inlet filter with BA-8103-1 filter and Vacuum Relief Foam Garter Filter with new RA-B3-5-1.
  • Removed non-functional mechanical rotating beacon and added cover plate.
  • Removed existing Garmin 496 GPS, AirGizmo mount, and GMX30 antenna and installed a Garmin AERA-550 GPS, AirGizmo AERA mount, and GDL-39 as a minor alteration.
  • Removed existing glare shield mounted whiskey compass and installed a new Precision Aviation Vertical Card Compass, P/N PAI-700, S/N 85281, TSO-C7c-1 using a new Precision Aviation model PACMG-2 glare shield mount. Swung compass and added compass deviation card.
  • Removed existing lap and shoulder harnesses and installed new Hooker Sport Harnesses to front and rear seat per STC SA312CH and submitted FAA Form 337.
  • Installed Rieff PMA’d engine heater with oil sump and cylinder band heaters as a minor alteration.
  • Installed new RG-25 battery and installed harness for battery minder connection as a minor alteration.
  
• Com Radio - The KX-155 radio was working fine for several days after the annual but the frequency tuning knob failed again on 24 November. The knob just spins and will not change the COM frequency. I took it to Aero Charter Avionics to see if they could fix it but they would have to send it in to get fixed and the flat rate charge for King to fix it is over $2,000. The frequency tuner is part of the circuit board and not a quick part change. The root cause of the radio failure is its location in the Citabria panel. It was on the lower right hand side of the panel and its hard not to bump the tuning knob as you get in and out of the plane. We purchased a FL-760 Transceiver/Intercom to replace the KX-155 and it will be installed where the VOR CDI is currently located. The current intercom was also removed which provides additional leg clearance. This change will result in a weight reduction of approximately 5 lbs.

N20843 Cessna 172M

• No maintenance issues on the Cessna 172 this month

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

• Maintenance Status - Air Associates returned the Arrow to us on November 6th. On November 18th, the RH inner tube was replaced (it was pinched in the wheel halves and had a slow leak).

Copyright © 2015, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated October 2015.