The Magneto Mystery in 60 Seconds - Flight Training

www.GroundScho...
Have you ever wondered what that clicking sound is when you start or shut down your piston-engine airplane? Russ and our friend Tryon Wilson explain what this sound is and why it's so important to your flight!
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[@GabsareSarg]

Man I dont know why people dont explain this. This is the BASIC. They just normally jump to oh "the magical magnetoes do all the work". But they never mention how the magneto starts working in the first place! Thanks for the video!

[@dasemifake]

I think it is because they themselves don't really know how it works

[@flyguy1637]

Excellent

[@miri6056]

These 60 seconds series are just perfet.. could you please do some more? About propellers, gnav, performance...

[@3UZFE]

This is so American. I love it.

[@chrismurphy8071]

Could you please make a video with someone’s finger in the mag when the impulse coupling clicks, it would be good for education

[@sun450]

Very interesting,,,,thank ‘you for the explanation....more please..........

[@ryanumphress]

This is great! I'd like to see a similar video explaining the alternator and generator

[@cliffwhitney7112]

Very cool, Well done and I learned something!

[@MyEmpire91]

This is gold!

[@GoldSealFlight]

Well thank-you!

[@aerobatixguy7682]

It seems like on mine, even after the engine has started, the clicking sound is still present below about 800 rpm. This means that the impulse coupling is not disengaged as it should. What would be the cause of this and is it bad to continue operating like this or do I need to pull the mag and find the cause and fix??

[@sigitagusprasetyo6962]

What is function impuls coupling on the magneto?

[@GoldSealFlight]

The impulse coupling spins very fast from a compressed spring. This creates the electrical impulse to fire the spark plugs. It does this independently, without any involvement of the battery.

[@sigitagusprasetyo6962]

@@GoldSealFlight so the fast movement a magnet fluks and very hight electrical appear , although engine slow rotate..

[@snorttroll4379]

got a link to a video showing how the impulse coupling works ?@@GoldSealFlight

[@jamesdowns72]

So... when you do the magneto test at the engine run-up... what would happen if a magneto was bad? I've always just been told, "turn it to L and verify a slight engine drop... now turn it to R and verify a slight engine drop..." If one of the magnetos wasn't working, would the engine just quit when you switched to the dead one?

[@Mattymoneyboy276]

you'd hear the engine begin to cough and splutter in which case you'd quickly change back to the other magneto. yes this can be due to spark plug fowling. However usually the engine will simply run rough and would have a very high rpm drop

[@cpurickyahoo]

The mag check ensures that both magnetos work, that they are both properly timed, and that the grounding circuits are intact. If a mag is dead, the engine will die during the check. If they are not properly timed you will not see RPM drops within spec. And if they are not grounded, then you will not see the correct RPM drop. The inside of a magneto is similar to an automobile distributor. It includes a condensor and a pair of points that open and close on a cam. I once had a set of new points disintegrate in flight. There was an audible, abrupt change in engine speed. I did a mag check (no reason you can't do them in flight), and the engine died when I selected the dead mag. You can bet that woke me up! I put the switch back in "both" and flew home on just the one good mag. If the malfunction made a difference in how smoothly the engine ran, I would have just selected the one good mag in order to isolate the bad one.

[@fonatig]

too bad i watched this video after i took my magneto out in search of weird clicking sound

[@wgmskiing]

OK, now explain in 60 seconds why these weren't replaced by electronic ignitions 40 or 50 years ago like they were in every other application on Earth.

[@steveastrouk]

Reliability, redundancy and simplicity.