Savvy Stories

The following are real-life stories of problems experienced by aircraft owners and how Savvy helped resolve them. Some names have been changed, but the stories are real ones.

Bird Strike – What Would You Do?—Allen had a bird strike on takeoff. The mechanic told him his engine would need to be overhauled. He called the SavvyBreakdown hotline and we saved him $30,000.

Cylinder Cracks – Or Are They?—Ken asked his shop to take a look at the fuel pump on his Cessna 180. The mechanic told Ken that two of his cylinders were cracked and needed replacing. Ken asked us for help and we saved him $6,000.

Paid for a Peach but got a Lemon—A fresh annual inspection included with an aircraft purchase sounded pretty good to the buyer, until he got home and realized he’d bought a bucket of trouble. A Savvy-managed prebuy examination could have saved him a lot of money.

Failure To Communicate—Will your shop work on an engine if it’s past TBO?

Rough Engine: Hardware or Software?—WOT+LOP doesn’t work on a Cirrus SR22.

Yikes! No oil pressure!—The gauge drops to zero in flight. Now what?

Regulatory Roadblock?—What do you do when your IA says your newly overhauled engine is illegal?

Righting a Prebuy Gone Wrong—Dan’s prebuy started off as a runaway train until Savvy got it back on track.

Good Eyes! Great Catch!—Nobody could solve Wade’s excessive #3 CHT. Then the right set of eyes took a look.

Is My Engine Ruined? Help!—Jack found himself in the middle of nowhere with a serious engine problem that could have become catastrophic.

Even Bad Data Tells a Story—Greg was looking to buy an airplane, but analysis of its engine monitor data during the prebuy helped convince him to walk away from the deal.

Grounded by Glass—Cascading failures of multiple avionics systems interrupted Kim’s transition training in the glass-cockpit Cirrus SR22T she’d just purchased.

Pull This Cylinder or Not?—Did Jay’s oil analysis report and borescope findings justify his A&Ps recommendation to replace a jug on his Lycoming O-320?

Looks Sweet, Tastes Sour—First-time buyer Theo was looking for a Mooney but nearly wound up with a money pit.

A Trio of AOGs—A call to Savvy’s 24/7 hotline saved the day for Tanner, Dave and Carl when they found themselves “aircraft on ground.”

A Troubling Report Card—You can learn a lot about the health of your aircraft from its SavvyAnalysis report card.

In Search of a Skylane—This seven-month-long saga of a first-time buyer’s airplane purchase has a happy ending.

Second Time’s the Charm—This buyer’s first prebuy revealed a real dog, but his second try turned out well.

Scare Tactics—A first-time aircraft owner and a fear-mongering A&P make a bad combination.

Fluctuations—Troubleshooting some annoying fluctuations in RPM, fuel pressure and fuel flow 

The First Breakdown—To mark the 117th anniversary of the first breakdown in aviation history, we are announcing a major price reduction in our SavvyBreakdown service. 

We Love Easy Fixes—Charlie’s avionics problem and Dan’s dead electrical system are quickly diagnosed and inexpensively resolved.

Something’s Not Right—The client reported the engine “burbled.” Fortunately, what we saw in the data was the clue to fixing the problem. 

Half Dead Engine—The day before Christmas, the Skylane flew perfectly. The day after Christmas, half of the cylinders refused to light off. Why?

Should Mac Buy This Baron?—The prebuy revealed a long list of discrepancies. Enough to justify walking away?

Seriously Stuck—A stuck exhaust valve resulted in a seriously sick Lycoming and a seriously stuck Cessna Cardinal.

Massive Mag Drop—The Cherokee 235 had a mag drop of 1000+ RPM, and the question was “why?”

Chattering Crankshaft—The simple task of “dialing the crank” turned into a costly marathon until expert advice saved the day.

Thermal Runaway!—A thermal runaway can do bad things to a cylinder quite quickly.

Not What It Appears—Sometimes the best course of action is walking away.

Down in the Boontocks—You’re cruising high above rough terrain when your engine suddenly loses power and you make an emergency landing in the middle of nowhere. Now what?

The Great Beyond (TBO)—Lessons learned from geriatric engines

Nipped in the Bud—By catching these ailing exhaust valves early, this maintenance-savvy owner averted costly and risky cylinder removal

Takeoff Emergency, Engine Shaking Badly—Not enough runway remaining to abort, barely enough power to limp to an emergency landing on an adjacent runway—now what?

Damage Below Deck—What started as a smooth prebuy of a late-model Bonanza wound up getting unexpectedly…well…interesting

FEVA 2.1: Latest Advance in Exhaust Valve Failure Prediction—Savvy’s latest upgrade of its cutting-edge machine learning model yields failure predictions 20% more accurate and sensitive than ever before

Caribbean Crisis Averted—You’re in the Lesser Antilles when your airplane’s gear retraction system goes on the fritz. Who ya gonna call?

Borescope Believer—Trace’s IA wasn’t a big fan of borescopes; luckily, Trace was

Engine Making Metal—Ted’s IA wanted to start tearing his engine apart. We talked him out of it

The Data Doesn’t Lie—Bill’s RV-10 had high CHTs after its annual condition inspection. Engine monitor data made it easy to diagnose the problem

Instant Gratification—Lew flew his Beech Baron to Nashville to drop off his wife, then couldn’t get the right engine started to fly home.

Stands Behind His Work?—Larry had good experiences with this shop in the past, but this time was different.

Persistence Pays—The manufacturer said the Cirrus’ air conditioner evaporator needed a $5K overhaul., but Tom’s persistence knocked more than 50% off that figure.

Funky EGT—Something definitely wasn’t right with Willy’s #3 EGT. Engine monitor data analysis pinpointed the problem.

Prebuy Showstopper—The seller of the Stinson insisted that the prebuy be done in his hangar and in his presence. We advised our client to walk away. When he didn’t, we had to…