by Mike Busch | Oct 17, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
The Perils of Trying to Fix a Problem You Haven’t Seen For Yourself The phrase “trust but verify” was made famous by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in December 1987 after the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Mikhail Gorbachev. The...
by Joe Godfrey | Oct 16, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Is there a mirror image for Occam’s Razor? Seems like if we have a name for relying on the least complex explanation for a scenario, then we ought to have one for the most outlandish, unlikely, logic-defying explanation. For instance, recently we got engine data...
by Mike Busch | Oct 15, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
When his Skylane’s engine monitor readings went crazy-high, Frank called Savvy’s 24/7 breakdown assistance hotline for help. “I just flew my Cessna 182 from Kansas City to St. Louis to drop off a passenger there,” Frank Annecchini told the Savvy Breakdown Assistance...
by Joe Godfrey | Sep 18, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
When we started our engine data analysis service in 2014, I wondered if we would see seasonal patterns in the data. For instance, would we see more probe failures in the heat of the summer? Would we see more stuck valves in the colder months? Would we see more...
by Mike Busch | Sep 17, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
The big boys don’t do them—why must we? Given today’s acute shortage of GA mechanics and the difficulty owners are having getting their airplanes on shop schedules, I’ve been receiving an increasing number of inquiries about the need for annual inspections from...
by Joe Godfrey | Aug 13, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
We rolled out Savvy’s Borescope Initiative in January. In the ensuing 7 1/2 months users have uploaded over 65,000 images to the repository. If you’re still waiting to participate, or if this is news to you, check out Savvy’s Borescope Initiative....
by Mike Busch | Aug 12, 2024 | EAA Sport Aviation Magazine, Magazine Articles
Can a mechanic who works on your plane refuse to sign it off or put it back together? Boston-based Cirrus owner Mark (not his real name) was flying his turbonormalized SR22 home to Norwood Memorial Airport on what was probably going to be his last flight prior to...
by Joe Godfrey | Jul 11, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
I’m brushing up my French for an upcoming trip and was reminded that Mayday comes from M’Aidez – Help Me. When I started flying in the ’70s the conventional wisdom from the old timers was “whatever you do don’t declare an...
by Joe Godfrey | Jun 9, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
If an engine monitor probe or sensor is going to fail, would you rather have it just fail and be done with it, or have it be reliable some of the time and distracting some of the time? Neither has much appeal, but at least with the failure, you can skip the detective...
by Mike Busch | Jun 6, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Recently, a client with an older Cessna 182 Skylane reported that his nose landing gear strut was leaking fluid and repeatedly going flat. Inspection revealed that the original chrome strut piston had become badly pitted and was tearing up the nose strut seals. The...
