Gentlemen:
Please allow me some observations and explanations:
Reading this thread has thrown me into the "wayback time machine." We had dozens of these threads 15 years ago when we started teaching the APS class. The threads all were like this one: educated, critical thinkers trying to teach those who had relied for years, maybe decades, on what they were taught that was simply wrong, ...and for whatever reason could not come to grips with their misunderstandings.
When we started, we thought we would teach a one day class on engine management. There was NO WAY. It ended up taking 2½ days to present it to make it complete and offer the student a comfortable understanding of the issues at the end of the class. That being the case there is simply no possible way to impart the information on an internet forum. We have given out reams of free information and it is still not possible to fully educate in this manner or with this bandwidth. Sorry. We wish we could. Even the online course is not quite as "complete" in this regard as the live course--at least that what those who have taken both courses tell us.
George is an aeronautical engineer. John is a retired JAL Captain who has flown everything from J-3s to WWII bombers and was a DC-3 and C-46 pilot for Air America in VN. I am a retired dentist who has spent many, many hours in the engine test stand, have flown over 75 different types of aircraft, including J-3s to the B-24 and the C-46 with the big radials. We were all WRONG about a lot when we started this.... like so many on this forum who think they know, but can't support their knowledge with data. ("We've always done it this way and never had any problems" is not proof of anything. It's nice, but it "proves" nothing.)
For George, John and me, we spent a LOT of time trying to overcome what we "knew" to be true that wasn't. It was a painful experience for all three of us to find out that, with all of our experience, what we had believed and were comfortable "knowing" about engine management for so many thousands of flight hours was simply WRONG. It became a soul-searching experience. But, in the trek toward enlightenment and many, many hours in the most advanced engine test facility in the world, we became comfortable relying on the science rather than other people's opinions. The DATA has no opinion or no ax to grind. We will tell you to this day that we do NOT want you to believe us. We want you to believe the DATA. But, to do that, one must be willing to look at the data and challenge what they believe to be true. (Remember, it requires no data or proof to "believe" something. It does require proof to KNOW something.)
George, John and I asked ourselves "How do you know when you are right?" That rather profound question has a telling answer. The only way you can know that you are right is to constantly challenge what you think you know to be true by trying to disprove your position. We have done that and continue to do that through research. As a result, we continue to learn.
The truth is, that back when we were considered "renegades" or "heretics" by the established aviation experts and the local hangar-flying know-it-alls, it was a lot more fun!!! (Our Aussie partners are finding that out!) Now that (at least in the US) we are considered mainstream, engine management experts and a source of solid, fact-based, information about piston engines, it's just not as much fun. The detractors of our teachings have gone on to worry about such things as chemtrails and the like and the forums are far less antagonistic as we have dozens of pilots and mechanics teaching others about what we and they have discovered. The same will happen Down Under--hopefully more quickly than it did here.
We have been offering a $1000us reward to anyone who could present hard, repeatable data that anything we teach is scientifically flawed or incorrect. We want to know if we are mistaken more than anyone else. So far, no one has sent us any data in an attempt to collect the reward.
Our students (of many thousands) include folks from TCM and other OEM reps as well as a number of engine builders. Not one person has ever contradicted anything we have presented. No one.
I guess no one can use an extra $1000us. It's truly a head-shaker.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming............