by Mike Busch | Mar 6, 2024 | Magazine Articles
These two key measurements can tell us a lot about what’s going on inside our cylinders. My column last month talked about the fact that our piston aircraft engines convert only about one-third of the energy contained in avgas into useful energy to the propeller....
by Mike Busch | Mar 6, 2024 | Magazine Articles
The modern probe-per-cylinder digital engine monitor is a marvelous tool for keeping tabs on your engine’s health and troubleshooting its maladies. Here are some tips for figuring out what those bars and digits mean. This is embarrassing, but I might as well come...
by Mike Busch | Mar 1, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Weak compression doesn’t always mean that the cylinder has to come off. For most of my nearly six decades as an aircraft owner and three decades as an A&P, the rule about cylinders was simple: If the compression reading was less than 60/80, the cylinder had to...
by Mike Busch | Feb 1, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Does unleaded fuel really cause exhaust valve seat recession? The October 27 announcement by the University of North Dakota (UND) flight school that it was terminating its year-long test of Swift UL94 unleaded avgas and returning to 100LL came as a shock and...
by Mike Busch | Dec 11, 2023 | Savvy Stories
Harry based his 2006 Cirrus SR22 in Boca Raton, Florida. The summers there are hot and humid, so air conditioning is right up there with food, clothing and shelter. So when the air conditioning system in the plane quit working, Harry considered getting it fixed to be...
