Back in the January 2024 issue of Aviation Consumer, we reported on the rollout of Savvy Aviation’s Borescope Initiative as the latest addition to its longtime engine analysis program. The goal was to add borescope imagery of engine cylinders and components taken according to a standardized protocol to its database to monitor cylinder condition. With machine learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Savvy team would hone its ability to identify and diagnose cylinder issues earlier and more accurately. The two-fold goal was to reduce the number of engine failures due to burned valves and to reduce the number of perfectly good cylinders that are removed per outdated maintenance practices—of especial importance because removing and replacing a cylinder increases the risk of subsequent engine failure due to errors in cylinder installation in the field.
At no charge, Savvy provided users with a video showing how to take cylinder borescope imagery and set up a protocol stating what photos were to be taken and in what order. It also established a naming convention for the images. In doing so, it was following what has been a decades-long practice in the medical world for X-ray and other imagery. In our opinion, if nothing else, Savvy’s Borescope Initiative has established an aviation industry standard for taking and identifying piston engine cylinder borescope images that will facilitate overall sharing and analysis of such imagery. We heartily applaud that action.