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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 September 2025 |
From The President - By Steve
Dear Members,
I hope all of you have our Fall meeting on your calendar. We will hold it in the hangar starting at 11am on November 9th. As before lunch is provided so please let Damian know if you can’t make it. This meeting will include a vote for all of the officer positions so please appoint a proxy. If anyone has an interest in one of the positions I would be happy to explain the job requirements.
It was good to see the RV and Cessna flying a lot last month. Kyler Bristow put a lot of hours on the 172 and we wish him well as he prepares for his Commercial check ride. John and Larry are busy with the Arrow annual (assist from Jim Georgen) and several squawks on the Cessna.
I have 2 more applications for membership so interest in the club remains high.
Treasurer's Report - by T.J
BILLING STATEMENT
Comments:
- Thanks for the receipts.
- The planes flew just under 100 hours this month!
- Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
BALANCE SHEET
- The funds are still tracking nicely and are all positive.
- Cash is sufficient for the foreseeable future. We currently expect the January 2026 insurance payment to approximate $30,000 and given our current run-rates, we should have no problem meeting this.
- Thanks and please let me know of any questions or comments.
Maintenance - by John 
N202CR RV-7A
- Oil Change - On September 9th, the oil and filter were changed. There was no metal in the oil filter. An oil sample was sent in the oil analysis results were normal. The spark plugs were cleaned, gapped and rotated.
N20843 Cessna 172M
- Starter Solenoid - On October 2nd, Rick Hoyt reported the Cessna would not start at the yellow ramp. When he turned the key to start the engine, the NAV Light Circuit breaker would pop and there was no clicking sound indicating the Starter Solenoid was working. We towed the plane back to the hangar to do further troubleshooting. At first we thought it was the Key switch that was shorting to ground when turning it to start. We installed a borrowed ignition switch but it still popped the breaker when turning the key to start. We checked the Starter solenoid next and found that it had an internal short to ground. We replaced the Starter Solenoid and the Cessna was returned to service on October 3rd.
- Ignition Switch - Since our ignition switch was out of the aircraft for trouble shooting, we decided to install replacement internal contacts. We found that are contacts were pretty worn and even thought they were not the cause of the aircraft not starting, it was good to replace the contacts and prevent a future issue.
N2242N Piper Arrow IV
- Stuck Valve On 17 September, Mike Mahoney had a rough engine after starting that eventually ran smooth prior to his flight to New Mexico. The Arrow ran great during his flight to New Mexico. We thought that the rough engine was due to a fouled plug. On his flight back from New Mexico 4 days later, it was rough again when starting but ran great for his flight back to St Louis. With two rough running starts, we decided to check for a stuck valve. Larry and I started it and it initially ran smooth and we were getting ready to shut it down, when the EGT for cylinder #4 dropped from 1200 to 300 degrees and the engine ran very rough. We found that we had a stuck exhaust valve in cylinder #4. We reamed the exhaust valve guide and cleaned the exhaust valve stem and reinstalled the valve.
- Annual Inspection With the stuck valve issue, we decided to down the Arrow and start the annual inspection. The main issue found was a cracked entry step which we had weld repaired. The step was repainted and reinstalled. We cleaned and repainted areas of the lower cowl near the exhaust stacks. The Arrow was returned to service on October 4th.
Copyright © 2018, St. Louis Flying Club, All rights reserved. Last updated October 2025
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