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Engine Monitor Refresh: Worth the Investment

One engine failure is all it takes to realize that investing in an upgraded engine monitor offers good utility and better backstop than vintage systems.

JPI engine monitor display
The JP Instruments EDM 830 has manifold pressure and RPM display for percent horsepower.

The market recognized a long time ago that aftermarket graphic engine monitors are a huge leap forward in capabilities compared to the basic plain-vanilla OEM instruments from the 1970s. And so it was about 1500 feet into the climb from Waycross, Georgia (KAYS), when the performance of our Piper Arrow II began to dramatically decline.

The airplane protested with a pronounced shake. A glance down at the older JPI EDM 700 display to the left of the ignition switch and just above my left knee confirmed an issue. But would a more modern display and additional capabilities of a newer system better prepare for me dealing with the partial engine failure? The short answer is yes.

Les Abend

Contributor Les Abend is a retired airline captain on the Boeing 777, a contributing editor to sister publication FLYING Magazine with his Jumpseat column and the author of the novel Paper Wings. He also serves as an aviation analyst for CNN.