Something New in IA Renewal

Few aspects of aircraft operation generate more discussion, controversy, and outright dispute than piston-engine powerplant management. And with the advent of modern graphic engine-monitoring systems, aviation maintenance technicians find themselves more frequently facing questions and concerns from pilots/customers concerned about some aspect of their engine's health because of something they saw on those sophisticated monitors.

That's one reason why the folks at Advanced Pilot Seminars (www.advancedpilot.com) in Ada, Oklahoma developed their two-day engine-management workshop into a seminar that doubles as an FAA-approved IA-renewal course. "We realized that the information from these monitors can present something of a quandary for many maintenance technicians out there who haven't been trained to interpret the information available," explained pilot Dr. Walter Atkinson, one of three instructors who teaches the APS course.

"What's it mean when one channel of an analyzer goes dead or starts showing spiked readings?" Atkinson asked. "Too often mechanics don't accurately interpret the information their customers bring them, sometimes due to lack of experience on the part of both the pilot and the maintenance guy in the shop."

The APS course serves as well to teach A&Ps how engines and analyzers really work and how the technician can use that information to troubleshoot a problem," Atkinson noted. "And this course also demonstrates to these maintenance technicians the validity of what we teach."

This past spring, Aviation Maintenance was invited to sit in on the APS program.

What I learned during the program is that the course is as much an exercise in exploding myths and misinformation as it is an education in engine-management methods shown to draw out the best from those expensive pieces of machinery that power aircraft.

One of the watchwords of the APS program is symbolized by the letters "OWT" overwritten by the familiar red circle with a hash mark, the international symbol for "NO!"

"No Old Wives Tales!" is a mantra for the instructors, a trio that includes Atkinson, retired airline pilot and aviation writer John Deakin, and engineer-turned-lawyer-turned-inventor George Braly, chief engineer for General Aviation Modifications, or GAMI, in whose facilities the APS seminars are held.

Among the OWTs that fall to the seminar's axe are such commonly held absolutes as "never run an engine over-square!" or "never lean beyond peak!" and "100-degrees rich of peak is the best setting for an engine."

Employing data gathered in GAMI's state-of-the-art Carl Goulet Memorial Engine Test Facility, the instructors demonstrate what happens inside when an aircraft engine is run in violation of those supposedly inviolate rules, compared to what happens when the engine is operated according to the "rules."

The instructors employ videotape, PowerPoint presentations, and live screen displays from engines running in real-time in the test-cell.

The course focuses most of its attention on engines that employ fuel injection, including normally aspirated, turbocharged, and turbonormalized. Parts of the coursework also apply to carbureted engines, and the entire course applies to all types of piston aircraft powerplants, whether flat or radial in configuration.

For pilots, mechanics, and IAs the insights provided by the course inform them of realities of the engine compared to a plethora of "truths" handed down through generations of aviators and maintenance technicians.

Perhaps no modern instrument has spurred more misunderstanding among pilots and maintenance technicians than the Graphic Engine Monitor (GEM). These little boxes typically monitor at least the individual cylinder-head and exhaust-gas temperatures of an engine; some also provide fuel pressure and fuel flow, as well as turbine-inlet temperature.

Capable of delivering their operating data in both digital and visual forms, the modern graphic-engine monitor can actually serve as the best tool available for troubleshooting an ailing engine-providing the viewer understands the meaning of those numbers and bar graphs-and how to interpret what they mean. And it is in learning to use the GEM as an active tool that may provide the greatest use to the maintenance technician.

Properly understood and used, the GEM can help pinpoint everything from a clogged fuel injector to a dead sparkplug, detonation, pre-ignition, even the impending failure of a valve, and other engine problems current and in-progress.

"Learning to use this great little instrument is among the best aspects for the IA who comes for renewal," Atkinson explained. "It takes what at first glance may seem superfluous and turns it into an excellent diagnostic tool, a tool that can save an engine or a life, and wins over customers once they realize you take seriously what the instrument does."

Use of this instrument combines with the other lessons of the course to reinforce the main thrust of the Advanced Pilot Seminars; better engine management through lean-of-peak operations.

And with the old wives tales so deeply ingrained in the consciousness of pilots and mechanics, it seems to take a data-intensive seminar like this one to make converts to both the wisdom and safety of LOP operations.

"We feel like we've succeeded when we receive questions from other mechanics and pilots who've heard the message from graduates of our IA renewal program," Atkinson said.

"And since we can't expect to get everyone who flies or works on airplanes to come to these seminars, word-of-mouth reinforcement is plenty gratifying."