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...
by Mike Busch | Jun 1, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
My company manages a lot of prebuys. At any given point in time, we typically have a dozen of them in progress. We’ve managed thousands of them over the years, and seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Most of the time, the aircraft turn out to be in decent shape and...
by Joe Godfrey | May 16, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Hockey playoffs are in full swing. It’s usually about this time of the year that I rewatch my favorite hockey movie “Miracle”, about the 1980 Olympics. So many great performances, including fellow pilot Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks, but none better...
by Mike Busch | May 1, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
What we can learn from medicine about fixing things without taking them apart. A longtime friend who was suffering from extreme fatigue and shortness of breath. She was diagnosed with congestive heart failure caused by aortic valve stenosis, and she required an aortic...
by Joe Godfrey | Apr 11, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
The analysis team sees lots of malfunctions in the data we review. No surprise – most clients request analysis when something’s not right, so we’re not seeing the thousands of flights that go off without a hitch. So you could say we’re...
by Mike Busch | Apr 1, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Teaching owners (and mechanics) how to do borescope inspections right In my last column (“Ending the War on Jugs,” AOPA Pilot March 2024 issue), I talked at length about why we should use the borescope—not the compression tester—as the gold standard for assessing...
by Joe Godfrey | Mar 14, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Lately the news is filled with examples of deep fakes. This is nothing new for pilots. We practice partial panel approaches for scenarios where technology is trying to convince us that something phony is real. It’s nothing new for engine data analysts. We start...
by Mike Busch | Mar 7, 2024 | Magazine Articles
Concerning E.I. UBG-16, MGL and GRT monitors How do I download data from a UBG-16? Files that come from a UBG-16 do not contain “heading names” for each of the columns in the file (each column represents a data series, such as EGT1). As such, if a file such as this...
by Mike Busch | Mar 7, 2024 | Magazine Articles
Aircraft owners often ask us for advice about what kind of engine monitor equipment we recommend installing in their airplanes. Owners who already have engine monitors installed often seek advice about upgrading them with additional capabilities or replacing them with...
