by Joe Godfrey | Oct 16, 2020 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
I live in California. I moved here from Chicago in 1983. It’s probably safe to say that Californians think about earthquakes every day. Most days it’s a fleeting thought then you go about your life. But when you feel a rumble it becomes top of mind again....
by Mike Busch | Oct 1, 2020 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
There’s a lot more to piston aircraft engine oil than you might think Friction and wear are caused by fracturing of “micro-welds” between moving surfaces. When it comes to piston aircraft engines, the role of engine oil is complicated. It lubricates moving parts to...
by Joe Godfrey | Sep 19, 2020 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
I’ll go out on a limb and say that priming the engine is not a precise science. Every POH has instructions, but experience often suggests that some engines like a little more and some a little less. What happens to the excess fuel if the pilot over-primes?...
by Mike Busch | Sep 1, 2020 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
What if your airplane breaks and there’s no one to fix it? Being a dyed-in-the-wool technology freak, I drive a Tesla Model 3. It has been a superbly reliable vehicle that doesn’t require maintenance very often. When I take my Tesla to the dealership for maintenance,...
by Joe Godfrey | Aug 14, 2020 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Thanks to the virus, I think we’re all logging more flight simulator time lately. I was talking with a game-designer friend about sims and haptics. To save some of you running to the dictionary, haptics are kinesthetic cues given by electronic devices. Like when...
by Mike Busch | Aug 1, 2020 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Why it’s no substitute for a proper independent prebuy. Shortly after the student pilot buyer and his CFI ferried the Warrior from Texas to California, the buyer’s mechanic found nearly a half-teaspoon of ferrous metal in the Lycoming’s suction screen and oil filter....
by Joe Godfrey | Jul 18, 2020 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Maybe it’s just a coincidence that we use the same word for a piece of silicone that directs cooling air over an aircraft engine – and a state of bewilderment. In the world of sound it’s also used to describe the box that contains a...
by Mike Busch | Jul 1, 2020 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
…and how you can avoid engine damage and power loss if you know the answer. A stuck exhaust valve caused a bent pushrod and broken pushrod housing on this Lycoming engine. If you fly behind a Continental or Lycoming, each of your engine’s cylinders has two valves,...
by Joe Godfrey | Jun 19, 2020 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
I was talking with a friend recently and he said “I understand it intellectually, but I’m not sure I’ll ever grok it”. I haven’t heard that word in years, maybe as far back as reading Heinlein in high school. (I was more of an Asimov fan...
by Mike Busch | Jun 1, 2020 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
When it comes to GA crashes, the NTSB doesn’t always get it right, nor does the jury In December of 2012, a father and his son arrived at the airport to pick up the father’s Cessna 421C cabin-class piston twin, which had been in the maintenance shop for months...
