by Mike Busch | Mar 15, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles
Most of us are still flying (and driving) behind powerplant technology that dates from the 19th century. The original four-stroke Otto-cycle internal-combustion engine was patented in 1862 by a Frenchman named Alphonse Beau de Rochas. More scientist than engineer, de...
by Mike Busch | Jan 1, 2015 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles
What to look for when choosing an A&P to work on your aircraft. Over the past 45 years, I’ve had the opportunity—and often the privilege—of working with hundreds of aircraft mechanics. At first it was as a naïve aircraft owner having them perform inspections...
by Mike Busch | Dec 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles
If you think CO-related accidents are rare, think again… On January 17, 1997, a Piper Dakota departed Farmingdale, New York, on a planned two-hour VFR flight to Saranac Lake, New York. The pilot was experienced and instrument-rated; his 71-year-old mother, a low-time...
by Mike Busch | Nov 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles
If you’re buying an aircraft, here’s how to structure the prebuy. Over the past six months, my company’s prebuy activity has gone right through the roof. We’ve been responding to 30 to 50 prebuy requests a month, perhaps four times as many as we were seeing a year...
by Mike Busch | Oct 1, 2014 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles
Why are our piston aircraft engines so @#$%*! inefficient? Our piston aircraft engines convert chemical energy into mechanical work, but they don’t do it very efficiently. It turns out that only about one-third of the energy contained in the 100LL we burn winds up...
