by Mike Busch | Jan 18, 2023 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Don’t use exhaust gas temperature as a leaning reference I respond to at least 100 queries from aircraft owners and pilots each week. At least a dozen of those are questions or requests for advice about leaning, and most of them relate to EGT. A few common ones: Q: My...
by Mike Busch | Dec 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Situational awareness requires being aware of your aircraft’s systems, too. On Saturday, August 26, 2022, a young CFI took off from Monterey, California in a Cessna 172 on a “Discovery Flight.” His passengers were a young couple, with the man occupying the left front...
by Mike Busch | Nov 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Using AI and deep learning to detect anomalous engine monitor data Nowadays more than half of the piston GA fleet is equipped with some sort of recording digital engine monitor. Older ones tend to be fairly primitive and record just EGTs and CHTs and not much else....
by Mike Busch | Oct 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Dealing with mechanicals away from home base. Every aircraft owner dreads a mechanical breakdown while away from home on a trip. In the five and a half decades that I have owned an aircraft—I bought my first plane in 1968 and have always flown lots of long trips—I’ve...
by Mike Busch | Aug 1, 2022 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Optimal flying in a world of expensive avgas. With fuel prices at all-time highs, it’s more important than ever for pilots of GA airplanes to fly in a fuel-efficient fashion. I am especially sensitive to this issue because I fly a piston twin that guzzles 30 GPH and...