RFTS Flying Club

December 2011 Newsletter

1. January Breakfast Meeting: I have asked Jim Castino to set up the January breakfast meeting. Details as soon as he gets his butt back from the Virgin Islands! (Just a little jealous.)

2. Christmas Party: The Christmas party was a great success with, it seemed, much more participation that before. The food was great and was consumed with great gusto. Thanks to Marge and Don for hosting and providing the venue.

3. Maintenance: 1205J: The new composite prop has been installed which lowers the empty weight by 14 pounds and gives a little more payload to play with. It will get its first hundred hour early in January. Additionally, Cessna has decided that perhaps there is something more that could be done to secure the front door latch and has issued a Service Bulletin to address the issue. They are paying the full cost of implementation.

4. 43R Rates: The annual inspection for 43R cost over $2800, a bit of a surprise, and when added to the costs of the previous 100-hour and engine work, left the Club in the hole, so to speak. The rental rate is determined by adding the hourly cost of fuel ($48.00), a prorated cost of maintenance (annual/100-hr cost divided by 100) and the leaseback rate. As you can see, the maintenance rate should be about $28 per hour but we have been using $23. Accordingly, the rate has been raised to $100 per hour effective 1 January. The rate for 520PL will be looked at in the next few months to see if it, too must be adjusted.

5. New Equipment: Air Four, the owners of 43R have purchased a JPI EDM700-6C with fuel flow for 43R. This is an engine data monitor (hence the EDM moniker) which will display and keep track of Exhaust Gas Temperature(EGT) and Cylinder Head Temperatures (CHT) on all six cylinders and display fuel flow, computed fuel remaining, and time remaining to empty tanks . (40Q has an EDM700-4c FF) This will allow us to more accurately lean the mixture and to better monitor temperatures, which will, perhaps avoid the cylinder damage that occurred over the summer. The new equipment will be installed at the next scheduled maintenance event.

6. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Let's go flying!

Dennis

31 December 2011