by Mike Busch | Oct 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
The myriad benefits of high manifold pressure and low RPM I bought my first airplane at age 24 shortly after I relocated from New York to California. It was a brand new 1968 Cessna 182 Skylane that I picked up at the Cessna delivery center in Wichita, and flew home to...
by Joe Godfrey | Sep 19, 2018 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Sometimes when I see something odd in real-time engine data during a flight, I can almost hear the voice of Vic Perrin saying “There is nothing wrong with your TV set. We are controlling transmission. We will control the numbers you see. You are about to...
by Mike Busch | Sep 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles, Uncategorized
They can be deadly if the pilot hasn’t been taught what to do The release of my book Mike Busch on Engines prompted lots of reader correspondence. One particularly interesting email came from the owner of a 2007 Cessna Turbo Stationair (T210H)—I’ll call him...
by Joe Godfrey | Aug 18, 2018 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
The Farmer’s Almanac says that the phrase Dog Days wasn’t originally about canines panting in the heat, it was about the appearance of Sirius the Dog Star and its reminder to ancient Egyptians about the annual flooding of the Nile. I like the dog days...
by Mike Busch | Aug 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
It has been a lot like watching paint dry I recently completed work on my second book, a 500-page monster titled Mike Busch on Engines (available on Amazon). It was a yearlong effort that involved reviewing hundreds of my past articles about piston aircraft engines,...
by Joe Godfrey | Jul 21, 2018 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
When guitar strings break there’s no lingering doubt. When an old-style incandescent light bulb fails you might get a bright flash before the darkness, or maybe just the darkness. Either way, no doubt. These are instant, unconditional failures. Then there...
by Mike Busch | Jul 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Spark plugs start the fire going, and need some TLC We all know what aircraft spark plugs do: They accept high-voltage pulses from a magneto or electronic ignition unit and produce an electric spark inside the cylinder’s combustion chamber to ignite the air/fuel...
by Joe Godfrey | Jun 16, 2018 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Okay I’ll admit it. The first time someone showed me the selective attention video – the one where the gorilla walks through the teams passing basketballs – the setup was that there was a really nice prize if you could count the exact number of...
by Mike Busch | Jun 1, 2018 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
“Autographing a lie” is the worst FAR violation a mechanic can commit By Mike Busch | A&P/IA Inspection revealed that the propeller damage was substantial, apparently the result of a prop strike An IA is an experienced A&P mechanic who—by virtue of having...
by Joe Godfrey | May 15, 2018 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Last October I mentioned Eastern Airlines flight 401, which crashed into the Everglades in 1972 because all three crew members were fixated on a failed landing light. I first read about the importance of that flight, and so many others, by reading books and columns by...
