Patent ID: 7796054

Claim:
A magneto characterization system for an aircraft having first and second magnetos, comprising: (a) an engine operation rate sensor; (b) a memory device adapted to store a signal responsive to the engine operation rate sensor; (c) a user-controllable switch mounted with the first and second magnetos such that the switch can enable the first magneto only, the second magneto only, or both the first magneto and the second magneto, or disable both magnetos; (d) a switch sensor adapted to generate a signal indicative of the position of the user-controllable switch; and (e) a controller responsive to the switch sensor and the engine operation rate sensor, adapted to store in the memory device a signal indicative of the engine operation rate sensor output while the switch sensor indicates that one of the first and second magnetos is enabled, and to communicate to a pilot a relationship between (i) the engine operation rate sensor output while the switch sensor indicates that the other magneto is enabled and (ii) the stored signal.