by Mike Busch | Mar 6, 2024 | Magazine Articles
The best way to diagnose an engine problem is usually in the air. Note to reader: The procedures discussed in this article for gathering flight test data are described more fully in the “Flight Test Profiles” document found under the “Learn More” or “Help” menu items....
by Mike Busch | Mar 6, 2024 | Magazine Articles
Each time you change mixture, RPM or MP, it affects combustion timing. Understanding how is your best defense against harming your engine by doing something dumb. My last few columns focused on the physics of the combustion event in Otto-cycle engines. I’m sure this...
by Mike Busch | Mar 6, 2024 | Magazine Articles
Often confused and misunderstood, these two abnormal combustion phenomena are as different as night and day. Although we often hear people describe what goes on inside the cylinders of an Otto-cycle engine as being an explosion – i.e., a violent, nearly-instantaneous...
by Mike Busch | Mar 6, 2024 | Magazine Articles
These two key measurements can tell us a lot about what’s going on inside our cylinders. My column last month talked about the fact that our piston aircraft engines convert only about one-third of the energy contained in avgas into useful energy to the propeller....
by Mike Busch | Mar 6, 2024 | Magazine Articles
The modern probe-per-cylinder digital engine monitor is a marvelous tool for keeping tabs on your engine’s health and troubleshooting its maladies. Here are some tips for figuring out what those bars and digits mean. This is embarrassing, but I might as well come...
by Mike Busch | Mar 1, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Weak compression doesn’t always mean that the cylinder has to come off. For most of my nearly six decades as an aircraft owner and three decades as an A&P, the rule about cylinders was simple: If the compression reading was less than 60/80, the cylinder had to...
by Joe Godfrey | Feb 15, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
When the analysis team started looking at engine data about 10 years ago, we could confidently recognize the patterns for clogged injectors, spark plug misfires and detonation events. Other patterns, like broken valve springs and induction leaks, came later. Last...
by Mike Busch | Feb 1, 2024 | AOPA Pilot Magazine, Magazine Articles
Does unleaded fuel really cause exhaust valve seat recession? The October 27 announcement by the University of North Dakota (UND) flight school that it was terminating its year-long test of Swift UL94 unleaded avgas and returning to 100LL came as a shock and...
by Joe Godfrey | Jan 15, 2024 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
Scottish poet Robert Burns wasn’t a pilot – but his words are good advice for flight planning. This Puzzler is about anomalies that happened in flight. 14 CFR 91.103 directs pilots to become familiar with all available information concerning a planned flight prior to...
by Joe Godfrey | Dec 15, 2023 | SavvyAnalysis Puzzlers
I was channel surfing recently and landed on a Perry Mason rerun. First of all, it’s one of the great TV themes of all time. Hats off to Fred Steiner. Private Detective Paul Drake just oozes cool with his wild sport coats and convertible sports cars. Della Street was...
