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What am I: The doctor is in

Digital engine monitors check engine health from the inside

Are you constantly hearing advertisements for “total body scans,” those medical marvels that promise to see inside your body and check its health for everything from cancer to hardening arteries?
Preflight April 2019
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One pass through a machine and the doctor knows what ails you—or could in the future? Well, most of us can’t take that scan because insurance doesn’t cover it, and it usually costs in the thousands of dollars for a one-time check, but for around $2,000, you can do a constant body scan on your airplane’s engine. And that will help ensure a healthy future.

“The modern probe-per-cylinder digital engine monitor is a marvelous tool for keeping tabs on your engine's health and troubleshooting its maladies.” —Mike Busch, Savvy AviationA digital engine monitor is a device that scans and records critical parameters of an aircraft engine in real time. Digital engine monitors track and record exhaust gas temperature and cylinder head temperature for each individual cylinder, and more sophisticated monitors record other engine information such as manifold pressure and fuel flow, and electrical and air data such as voltage and outside air temperature. Access to real-time engine data helps pilots more accurately lean the fuel/air mixture, and precise data from each cylinder enables fuel-saving lean-of-peak operations. Pilots also can detect problems such as overheated cylinder head temperatures before they become more severe. The data may be stored in the device and downloaded to a computer.

The digital engine monitor provides engine diagnostic information, allowing the aircraft owner to identify problems early, analyze and record data, and monitor trends in the engine’s health. And that’s cheap insurance.

Julie Walker
Julie Summers Walker
AOPA Senior Features Editor
AOPA Senior Features Editor Julie Summers Walker joined AOPA in 1998. She is a student pilot still working toward her solo.

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