VOLUME XXXIV, NUMBER 5, May, 1999
Jim Williams, Editor
The Businessmen's Flying Club held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 4, 1999 at the Naper Aero clubhouse. President Mark Clements called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. Flying members Jim Barna, Ken Best, Gerald Bloodsaw, Tom Braid, Jeff Braxton. Hubert Elsen, Matt Forsberg, Mike Goin, Russ Haack, John Harrison, Andrea Hoyt, Matt Kenner, Ray Kvietkus, Mike Leavy, Jack Lindquist, Craig Matteson, Mike Pastore, Al Pakalniskis, Don Patterson, Len Pirard, Saeed Razfar, Dan Rolfs, Bert Toppel, Jim Williams, Joe Weston, and Reza Zarafshar. Inactive member Dave Young, guest John Beery and new wait list members Carl Price and Jan Jakubiak also attended.
Tom Braid asked that the minutes of the last meeting be modified by adding the words: "within the next 12 months" to the sentence "A motion was made and seconded to buy one airplane to replace the 182." Bert Toppel requested clarification of the committee’s recommendation to purchase a new airplane. Mark Clements responded that four of the memebers supported the concept of the purchase and two did not.
With these modifications, a motion was made, seconded, and passed to accept the newsletter with corrections as the minutes of the last meeting.
The details of the Treasurer’s Report can be found at the end of this newsletter.
A motion was made, seconded, and passed to accept the treasurer's report.
AIRCRAFT REPORTS
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SMOH -- engine time since major overhaul
TBO -- engine time between overhauls
TMOH -- engine time to major overhaul
150: Matt Forsberg changed the oil and asked for clarification about the documentation required. Notes should be made on the placard, the engine log and the planes timesheet notebook.
Engine idle is reported to be rough but several members agreed that it has always been rough. Mike Pastore plans to get the plane over to Lumanair this week for a pitot static check .
172: Reza Zarafshar reported that we flew through the oil change by over seven hours! Please take care to check the placard after every flight. During the summer months we sometimes fly as many as 40 hours in a single month and the oil changes come up fast. While changing the oil Reza found that oil stopcock would not turn and lock. He was able to drain the oil by holding it open for the entire time. Lumanair will be asked to take a look at the quick drain during the next service.
New tires have been placed on the main landing gear. The pilot’s seat is loose.
Al Pakalniskis and Jack Lindquist reported radio problems. COM 1 had a lot of background noise and Jack even lost com for two minutes. After a while, the problem went away. The technical term for radios turning themselves off is "Naps." On May 19th, Matt Kenner reported via e-mail the following conditions before the Naps started: a) 2600’ MSL and 6.5 DME to JOT. b) COM 1 tuned to 122.9, NAV 1 tuned to 112.3, COM 2 tuned to 122.9 and NAV 2 to 113.2 c) Strobes, beacon and nav lights on. d) Transponder squawking 1200. Naps started soon after NAV 2 was switched to the Peotone VOR (113.2). The first Nap lasted 2-3 seconds and then the radios came back on by themselves. After another minute went by the radios went out again for 3-5 seconds. Matt hit the top of the instrument panel and the radios came back on. Both COM/NAV sets had gone out all three times.
After this flight, Mike Pastore had the radios go out on two separate occasions. On Saturday, May 22nd, Mike was on his way to ARR heading about 8 DME from JOT. The NAV 1 radio was tuned to JOT and NAV 2 was tuned to DPA. Beacon, strobes and nav lights were on and the transponder was tuned to 1200. Mike remembered that COM 1 was tuned to 122.9 but wasn’t sure what station was on COM 2. Both sets went out for about 3 seconds and then came back on by themselves. Mike also noticed that whenever the radios weren’t working the intercom was buzzing.
These radios have not been repaired and are still causing
problems. All pilots should be sure to provide details of their radio failures
to Nick Davis and Matt Kenner. Speaking with Mark Clements by telephone
on Thursday, he confirmed that we will pull out COM 1 and have it bench
tested at the manufacturer.
Matt and Mike were flying at Hinkley and noticed that the engine was running rough at low RPMs and power was really anemic. It also seemed that oil consumption in the 172 was up and Reza had reported that the quick drain was sticking at the meeting. Mike took the plane out of service from Monday through Wednesday this week to have Lumanair take a look. Rick at Lumanair reported that the oil sump has a vent line which feeds into the intake side of one of the cylinders. There was a rubber hose that had come loose from the vent line that created a significant air leak from the oil sump into the intake of that cylinder.
This was the cause of the engine roughness and low power. We need to keep an eye on this problem and advise Matt Kenner immediately if it recurs. Lumanair will double-check the security of the fittings when they get the plane in for the next oil change.
182: Cylinder head temperature seems to be working but the exhaust gas temperature gage is still inoperative. The nose wheel fairing was destroyed by harmonics set up during the vibration from nose wheel shimmy. We have placed an order from WAG Aero for an unpainted fairing. Russ at Woodlake will then faithfully reproduce our designer color scheme on the new fairing. I flew the plane over to Battle Creek two weeks ago and even with two fairings instead of three noticed significantly higher ground speeds both coming and going. Usually, coming home from Michigan is a lot slower for two reasons. Air traffic control routes you far south of the lake to the Knox and Peotone VORs to avoid the Chicago Heights approaches to O’Hare and headwinds from the west slow you down even more. On that flight, I was doing 150 knots ground speed on both legs.
OLD BUSINESS
For those of you who skipped right to this section to find out what happened with the new airplane I regret to inform you that we didn’t do the deal. We had based all of our assumptions about the costs of purchasing a new plane on the wholesale value of 44WW. Unfortunately, we believed the Blue Book and its factors to subtract for airframe hours and hours since engine rebuild. When the wholesalers came to look at the plane they told us that the market value of the plane was substantially less than we anticipated. We even had one offer as low as $40,000 versus the $55,000 that we were anticipating – ($25K engine reserve plus the $55K wholesale value of the plane formed the basis for our $80K down payment shown in the spreadsheet.) As much as we always thought of 44WW as our club’s "Cadillac," the wholesalers told us that it looked like just what it is an old airplane with 7000 hours on the airframe. Most of our competition in the market comes from planes with many fewer hours and without a run out engine.
Because we were not able to come close to the pro-forma price of a new airplane we have decided that we need to sell the plane in the retail market even if it means losing the deal on this particular demonstrator airplane. The BFC is advertising in Trade-A-Plane and the Trade-A-Plane website, on AV Web and the Buy-A-Jet website. Aircraft Sales Corporation also recommended that we run an ad in the Chicago Tribune but we will wait to to that until the Holiday weekend has passed.
Now for the historical record: A motion was made and seconded to buy the Cessna 182 demonstrator aircraft to replace 44WW. A voice vote was recorded and the motion carried by a margin of 17-10 including proxies. The demonstrator airplane was to be available after May 15th. The wholesalers were to start looking at 44WW on Saturday May 8th. This appointment ended up being cancelled and it wasn’t until nearly a week later that we actually showed the plane and started to get the bad news.
NEW BUSINESS
We didn’t talk about anything but this motion until we were all about to drop from exhaustion. There was one topic that could qualify as new business because it had to do with raising our monthly dues to defray the cost of the new airplane. The plan is to increase the monthly dues from $45 to $55 and eliminate the worknight refunds. We have not raised our "Buy In" price even within Bert’s memory so we talked about increasing the equity that we each have in the partnership to reflect the current value of membership in the club. No amount was defined but Bert and Mark estimate that a Class III membership should be purchased for about $3,000. We wouldn’t hit anybody with this bill all at once but would add it to monthly billings over a two to three year period until everyone got caught up.
WHAT'S UP WITH WHO'S UP
Finally after a long dry spell, somebody has done something! Hubert Elsen has broken the ice by attaining Level 2 Wings certification earning a prominent place on the refreshment list. Hubert is hard at work on his Commercial Rating with Mark Clements flying a Piper Arrow with retractable landing gear out of Schaumburg Airport, which is close to his office. Hubert reports: "It’s hard work. Everything happens a lot faster and there is a lot more to do and remember. On top of that, flying in and out of Schaumburg certainly has its own challenges." We wish you success Hubert. It’s always a pleasure to hear of a fine pilot honing his skills.
We have some additional members that have provided their e-mail addresses:
Chris Sims CSJETSET@compuserve.com
Don Patterson DPATTER470@aol.com
Ken Leibach KENLTF@aol.com
Joe Weston weston@cig.mot.com
Jim Williams JDWKalmus@aol.com
Mike Pastore MJPastore1@aol.com
Matt Kenner mtkenner@esi-il.com
Mark Clements MarkClements@prodigy.net
Nick Davis nooker@alum.mit.edu
Mike Goin mgfree@enteract.com
Hubert Elsen khelsen@aol.com
Matt Forsberg Mforsberg@att.com
Bert Toppel BJToppel@anl.gov
Dan Michael djm@mcs.net
Andrea Hoyt andreahoyt@mediaone.net
Ray Kvietkus rkvietku@fujisec.com
If you would like to have your e-mail address included in forthcoming listings please let me know. After we have collected all the information, we will add your e-mail addresses to the roster. The advantage to being included on this list is that you get a lot of jokes from Ken Leibach and get first hand information about maintenance problems with the aircraft. Because I was travelling last week and didn’t get started on the newsletter when I needed to; you are also the only people that are going to get the newsletter (via e-mail) much before the meeting.
REFRESHMENT LIST
The BFC refreshment list was created as another way of recognizing special achievements. Criteria for membership vary with the length of the list. The person scheduled for refreshments should bring beverages and desert to the club meeting. If unable to attend, he or she should arrange to trade meeting dates with someone else on the list.
Ray Kvietkus June, 1999
Andrea Hoyt August, 1999
Hubert Elsen September, 1999
MEMBERSHIP
This is the longest waiting list that I’ve ever seen! We received five new applications during the month and we hope to be able to introduce everyone to the membership in June.
Membership waiting list:
Chuck Walton
Craig McCormack
Andree DeSas
Anthony Marchechi
Lonnie Horn
Carl Price
Richard Widdicombe
Jan Jakubiak
Kevin Brady (missing medical)
Carl Price was introduced to the membership and reported that he first got interested in flying in 1957 at Naper Aero! Now with 16,000 hours, he has just retired as the chief pilot of American Airlines. "I learn something every trip" Carl reports. He first got his license at Clow and saw the world behind the yoke of a C130. Glasgow, Scotland was his favorite destination but he chose the challenge of the Jackson Hole VOR approach for his retirement flight. This is the only runway in the US where the runway is shorter than the altitude (6500’ at 7000’MSL) and at least once a year some jet falls off the end. You can’t land long or hot without an incident report.
Corporate pilot Tom McDonald flies the Cessna caravan and the Falcon 900. He soloed at 16 at his father’s flying school in southern Maryland. Tom is an A&P mechanic and something else too, but from my scribble, I can’t figure out what it is.
A friend of Craig Matteson’s, John Beery also visited. With only one airplane ride under his belt, he would like to become a private pilot. John owns a local HVAC contracting company.
I think that Jan Jakubiak was standing in the back of the room but was not introduced to the membership. She sent in a completed application this month, so we hope to meet her formally at the next meeting.
Larry Bothe has decided to join the BFC as a social member from his new home in Seymour, Indiana, primarily to follow the saga of the new airplane. He and Pat may be able to join us at the July picnic.
Potential members are reminded that they must be present at the meeting when an opening is announced and be prepared to purchase the class of membership they prefer. Memberships may be upgraded at any time without penalty at prevailing rates.
SAFETY TOPICS
A Aviation Safety Program held at Fermi labs held on Monday May 10th was reported to the membership. The topic was Aviation Weather.
NEXT BUSINESS MEETING
The Businessmen's Flying Club will hold its next business meeting, worknight and cookout on Tuesday evening, June 1, 1999 at the Naper Aero clubhouse. Plan to arrive as early as you can after 4:30 PM. The business meeting will start at 7:30 PM and will be followed by refreshments. Remember: In July, our meeting will be held at the Picnic on Sunday afternoon, July 11th. Worknight will still be held on Tuesday, July 6th.
Work Night Credits:
Jim Barna 2
Jeff Braxton 1
Mark Clements 2
Nick Davis 2
Hubert Elsen 1
Matt Forsberg 1
Mike Goin 2*
Russ Haack 1
Andrea Hoyt 1
Matt Kenner 2
Ray Kvietkus 2
Mike Leavy 1
Tom Lechner 1
Ken Leibach 1
Jack Lindquist 1
Craig Matteson 1
Dan Michael 1
Mike Pastore 1
Don Patterson 2
Len Pirard 1
Bert Toppel 2
Joe Weston 2
Jim Williams 1
Reza Zarafshar 2
Mike Goin was awarded two worknight credits for his efforts in creating and now improving the BFC Webpage. Our webpage address is:
www.Enteract.com/~mgfree/bfc/bfc.html.
Mike will post a password-protected roster on the Internet. Because, we post this newsletter on the Internet I can’t tell you what the secret password is. I will tell you that it will be easy for you all to remember the password.
TREASURER'S DETAIL FOR
April, 1999
INCOME
Billed charges, March, , April Invoice:
Previous (-$594.87) $110.50
Dues, work night 2,025.00
March flying 1791.09
Late fees 4.50
Total billed charges $3,931.09
Credits:
Expenses (-$117.50)
Balance Changes (-$222.59)
Net Invoice (-372.28) $3,591.00
Receipts
Charges $3,576.42
Interest (NOW) 11.10
Interest (MBNA) 221.85
Total receipts $3,809.37
PAYMENTS
Credits to members:
Fuel Away 19.00
Office 32.50
Postage 66.00
Total credits $117.50
Payments to outsiders:
Ameritech $7.88
Lumanair
C182 Vacuum Pump $740.64
Naper Aero
Accommodations 267.00
Fuel 669.80
Total payment to outsiders $3,094.49
Credit, Naper (-168.75)
Total expenses $1,971.57
Cash Gain $2,124.05
BALANCES
NOW account $12,185.63
MBNA money market 58,157.59
Cash Total $70,343.22
Credit, Naper Aero 1,012.50
Grand Total $71,355.72
Receivable 232.50
Liabilities -590.19
RESERVES
Insurance $1,740
Work night (Old) 1,944
(New) 1,620
Engines
C150 $12,468
C172 15,900
C182 25,497
Annuals 2,450
Total reserves $61,619
RESERVE SUPLUS $9,737
Retained Capital (inactive) $4,150