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St. Louis Flying Club Newsletter - 31 March 2026

From The President - By Steve

Dear Members,

It is nice to see all the participation in the EAA events and fly-outs last month. Several members flew in a Young Eagles event and all the club planes made a memorable trip to Gaston’s on the White River. With the longer days, warmer weather, and the time change we should have more flying opportunities.

We had 4 applications to join the club in the last couple of months with one of those going on the wait list after a phone interview and hangar tour. Interest in the club remains high.

The officers will be getting together this month to plan our Spring meeting. We will get the date and location sent out soon.

Steve

Treasurer's Report - by T.J

BILLING STATEMENT

Comments:

  • Thanks for the receipts! Please keep it up.
  • A note on Signature Fuel Bills...Note this is a repeat comment from last Month - Our credit card was compromised and while obtaining a new one, we had a time where we had no card on file at Signature. As such, for any fuel purchases in Jan/Feb, I have provided the member with a fuel credit if they purchased fuel. I've received at least one note from a member that they did not pay for the fuel. Please know that I have provided our new card to Signature and discussed with them and they said they would work out any deficiencies. As of today, that has not happened, so I'm leaving the credits for the member and if the club card does ultimately get charged, then I will reverse the credit in a future month. It is small dollars, but I wanted to advantage the members.
  • Fuel Prices - Fuel has been stable for quite some time but has begun to rise significantly. The officers anticipate that there is plenty of cash and fund cushion to hold rates steady for the time being.
  • Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

BALANCE SHEET

  • The funds are tracking nicely.
  • Cash is sufficient for the foreseeable future.
  • Thanks and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Maintenance - by John

N202CR RV-7A

  • Replaced RH Landing Gear Light - On April 6, replaced the RH landing gear light with a new M3 55W Halogen bulb.

N20843 Cessna 172M

  • Oil Cooler Winterization Plate On March 30, the Oil cooler winterization plate was removed.

N2242N Piper Arrow IV

  • Gear System Check - On a flight on March 28th, after several practice approaches and successful gear extensions and retractions, the gear failed to retract after the last practice approach. Several additional attempts were made to retract the gear but when the gear handle was moved to the up position, the three green lights remained on and the gear unsafe light came on. The plane flew back to Spirit with the gear extended. I put the airplane on jacks and swung the gear multiple times and they successfully retracted and extended. I checked over the gear system but did not see any issues. Damian did a flight test and retracted and extended the gear 4 times and the gear worked normally.

    In order to help monitor the gear hydraulic system in the future, we installed a Hydraulic pressure sensor to measure hydraulic pressure on the G3X when the gear is retracted. We also get annunciations on the G3X whenever the Hydraulic pump is on. The photo below shows the "Gear UP" Hydraulic Pressure indicator on the G3X display.


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