Mike M
08-17-2013, 11:49 AM
Mike Busch's article is well worth reading if you haven't yet. He explains how borescoping doesn’t require a fancy aviation-grade borescope. The value of a borescope inspection depends on whether the person knows what to look for, not the price of the equipment. Few A&Ps or IAs are trained, yet he says borescope inspection is not difficult. You can learn most of what you need to know in about 30 minutes by looking at a bunch of borescope images of good cylinders and bad cylinders. He notes lack of adequate training has hampered acceptance of borescopy, but he's optimistic it will change. This ability to capture digital images with new, comparatively low-cost digital borescopes - heck, I've even seen a cheap Chinese dental tool turned into a "borescope" - that capture email-able images means that mechanics can capture images and send them over the Internet to an expert for interpretation.
Now the questions.
Since Mike (a prolific author and acknowledged expert) hasn't found schools or textbooks for this, who does one go to for the 30 minutes' worth of annotated good/bad photos? Who has the resources to accept digital photos over the internet and advise the "photographer"? Who is a fellow EAA'er more interested in aviation safety and shared information than making a buck on the ignorance of others?
Might it be that we can collectively beg the guy who notes, "My company manages the maintenance of nearly 500 piston airplanes, more than 80 percent of them Continental powered. We always ask that the shops performing annual inspections on “our airplanes” follow the guidance of SB03-3 to the letter. We want every cylinder borescoped at every annual..." to put 30 minutes' worth of those 2400 or more borescope photos he's collecting every year so we can learn from them, too?
Last question. Is there room on the EAA website to host Mike's annotated photo album of the maybe good and the probably suspect?
In case there's any doubt, MIKE BUSCH, I'M BEGGING!
Now the questions.
Since Mike (a prolific author and acknowledged expert) hasn't found schools or textbooks for this, who does one go to for the 30 minutes' worth of annotated good/bad photos? Who has the resources to accept digital photos over the internet and advise the "photographer"? Who is a fellow EAA'er more interested in aviation safety and shared information than making a buck on the ignorance of others?
Might it be that we can collectively beg the guy who notes, "My company manages the maintenance of nearly 500 piston airplanes, more than 80 percent of them Continental powered. We always ask that the shops performing annual inspections on “our airplanes” follow the guidance of SB03-3 to the letter. We want every cylinder borescoped at every annual..." to put 30 minutes' worth of those 2400 or more borescope photos he's collecting every year so we can learn from them, too?
Last question. Is there room on the EAA website to host Mike's annotated photo album of the maybe good and the probably suspect?
In case there's any doubt, MIKE BUSCH, I'M BEGGING!