Patent ID: 8818683

Claim:
A method for operating a gas turbine engine, said method comprising: detecting a change in a rotational speed of a rotor assembly based on a signal transmitted from at least one speed sensor, wherein the change in rotational speed persists for at least a specified period; comparing the detected change in rotational speed to a threshold speed range; generating a first output when the detected change in rotational speed exceeds the threshold speed range for a first predetermined duration, wherein the first output is at least one of an audio and a visual indication alerting a user; identifying, based on the first output, the occurrence of an engine impulse event; detecting the vibration level of the rotor assembly based on a signal transmitted from at least one sensor; comparing the detected vibration level to a predetermined amplitude vibration threshold range and a predetermined vibration duration threshold range, wherein the predetermined vibration duration threshold range is determined using vibration data collected from at least one gas turbine engine during a plurality of flights; and generating a second output when the detected vibration level exceeds the predetermined vibration amplitude threshold range for a period of time that exceeds the predetermined vibration duration threshold range to identify a gas turbine engine impulse event.