"St Louis Flying Club Newsletter"

St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 25 September 2010

From The President - By Todd Michal

Dear Members,

Please join me in welcoming Jim O'Shea to the club. Jim has jumped right into the club and is making good use of the planes. With Jim's addition to the club, we have filled all of the expansion slots. It also means that we were able to pay off the Arrow loan agreement in full. I want to thank Mary and Pic for providing the financing that made the club expansion possible. Demand for the club remains strong. John reports that we have received new applications on the web site and he has started a waiting list.

Special thanks goes out to Mike W. for making arrangements for the annual club meeting. With the expansion to 16 members, finding a time for the meeting has been a challenge. Mike has identified from 7 PM to 9 PM on Friday 29 October as the only time all members could attend. Bob Zbylut is working to reserve the Wings of Hope conference room for the meeting. I look forward to introducing everyone to the new members. I will be sending out an agenda for the meeting in the next few weeks. If you have any items you would like to place on the meeting agenda, please send them to Mike or myself.

Pic has been working to assemble a record of aircraft checkout, BFR and medical dates. Keeping an accurate record will come in handy when it is time to renew the insurance. It also serves as an excellent reminder of medical and BFR expiration dates. There are several members with BFR and/or medicals coming due in the next couple of months. Please review the "Member Status" button to the left and send any updates to Pic.

Happy Takeoffs!

Todd

"Line up and wait"

Current FAA terminology for an air traffic controller’s instruction for a pilot to taxi onto the runway and await takeoff clearance is “position and hold." However, this will change on September 30 to “line up and wait,” which is the standard terminology under International Civil Aviation Organization guidelines.

Here’s an example of the phrase in use: Spirit Tower: “Cessna 20843, Runway Two Six Left, line up and wait.” Pilot: “Spirit Tower, Cessna 20843, Runway Two Six Left, line up and wait.”

Additional details will be communicated via updates to the Aeronautical Informational Manual (AIM) and Pilot/Controller Glossary, both located under the Air Traffic section of www.faa.gov.

Treasurer's Report - by Mike McBride

Retail fuel prices remained level at $5.45 per gallon at TACAir, leaving our hourly flight rates at $65 and $87 for the C172 and Arrow, respectively. The current treasury balance is just under $4,000; adjusted treasury is in the red by about $2,000, owing to significant member credit balances (much of which has been flown off during the month). The checking account is in good shape, with over $15,000 available (in addition to the treasury balance, this includes about $10,700 of escrowed funds and about $1,250 of "equity" funds for Arrow expenses).

Effective this month, the member dues have been adjusted up to account for increased fixed costs; both Full and Limited member dues have gone up by $10 per month, to $135 and $95, respectively. The increase is necessary to cover increased expenses (primarily for insurance and hangar).

With the addition of Jim O'Shea to the club, our membership is now full. This has allowed us to pay off the equity loan that Mike and Mary Piccirilli have so generously extended to us. Many thanks to the Piccirilli's for serving as our financing source! In addition to closing out the loan, the equity fund now has stabilized, and we have just under $1,250 remaining in that fund. Our only remaining obligation is the pending State Use Tax payment that will be due in the first quarter of 2011, estimated at $3,780. This is an equity shortfall that amounts to approximately $215 per Full member. We will have to make that amount up between now and 1Q2011.

We also have finalized the spend on the C172 Annual and engine overhaul; details are included in the monthly statement. With the prior assessments, our funding of the overhaul was short by just a bit, and this month's bill includes an assessment of $40 per member to cover the funds shortage. This should completely close out the annual / overhaul costs and funding. In total, we accomplished the overhaul and annual for just over $19k, which is remarkable. Even better, the out of pocket for a rebuilt engine cost each of us $640, half what it would have been under the old club membership structure with only eight members.

Mike

Maintenance - by John

N20843

Shimmy Damper - I noticed the nose wheel shimmying while landing on the 17th so we serviced the shimmy damper to resolve the issue. On the checkout flight, I did not see any further problems.
Engine Break-in - The engine break-in period has been completed. The oil and filter were changed on 17 September and Philips X/C 20W50 oil was added. From now on we will be using Philips X/C 20W50 oil in both aircraft. The altitude restrictions no longer apply.
LED Landing Light - To avoid the frequent failures of the landing light, the bulb was replaced with a new Whelen PAR46 LED bulb. The LED Light is the same shape as the previous landing light bulb and fits the existing Cessna landing light mount without requiring any changes. The LED bulb cost about $145.00 and is rated to last over 50,000 hours which is significantly longer than the 25 - 100 hour life of the standard filament type bulbs. The LED bulb only draws 2.3 amps so you can leave it on all the time if you want for enhanced visibility to other traffic.

N2242N

Oil Change - The oil and filter were changed on 28 August and Philips X/C 20W50 oil was added. The spark plugs were also cleaned, gapped and rotated.
Position Lights - The RH Wing and lower tail position lights were replaced on 17 September.
Accaisional GPS Signal Dropouts - Swapping the Arrow and Cessna GNS-430W's indicates the problem is likely with the Arrow GPS antenna. We will be working with Garmin to get a replacement antenna under warranty.

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