Aviation Masters

Physicist, chip designer, serial entrepreneur — and the man who spent 25 years making aviation cheaper. 

Host Mike Bush sits down with John Torode, founder of Dynon Avionics and Vashon Aircraft, for a wide-ranging conversation that runs from vacuum-tube computers and the birth of the PC to the $2,200 glass panel that upended general aviation. Along the way: GPS jamming, the brutal economics of FAA certification, what AI is really doing to software, the end of Moore's Law, and why getting an engine built may be harder than designing the avionics.

Two MIT/Dartmouth classmates of '66, both born in 1944, compare notes on careers that ran startlingly in parallel — and on the cost problem that could decide whether the next generation ever gets to fly.

⏱ Chapters
0:26 — Meet John Torode & two parallel lives
3:38 — MIT, physics & collecting five degrees
6:21 — Learning to fly on $300 a month
8:10 — Vacuum tubes, the IBM 650 & Minsky's AI prophecy
15:36 — Designing chips, networks & the Cypress years
22:20 — Founding Dynon: the quest for affordable avionics
24:19 — GPS is everywhere — and dangerously easy to jam
34:17 — The $2,200 glass panel that broke the mold
40:40 — Aviation's volume problem & dying semiconductors
42:11 — Going certified: the FAA, the STC & DO-178
48:22 — Will AI rewrite (and certify) the code?
1:04:46 — From Apollo's computer to the end of Moore's Law
1:20:07 — Buy today's avionics, not tomorrow's
1:23:04 — Telemetry, the cloud & "there is no privacy"
1:30:19 — Vision Aircraft: building a plane and an engine
1:40:13 — Closing: keeping aviation affordable for the next generation

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In this return appearance on Aviation Masters, Mike Busch sits down again with legendary aeronautical engineer Jimmy Tubbs for a deep, technically rich conversation about the regulatory machinery that shapes general aviation.

From the flawed criteria behind Airworthiness Directives to the erosion of Designated Engineering Representatives, and from PMA approval delays to the disappearance of the Small Airplane Directorate's collaborative processes, Jimmy pulls back the curtain on how the system is supposed to work, where it breaks down, and what it costs aircraft owners and the GA community.

This is a candid, experience-driven conversation with one of the most knowledgeable engineers in piston aviation — essential listening for anyone who owns, operates, or maintains a GA aircraft.

⏱ Chapters
00:00 – Introduction & Jimmy's Background
03:00 – What Is an Airworthiness Directive & How Are They Triggered?
07:00 – The Two-Variable Framework: Frequency vs. Severity of Failure
11:00 – Why AD Analysis in GA Lacks Formal Criteria
17:00 – FAA Reorganization: The Loss of Directorates & Senior Engineers
21:00 – The ECI Cylinder AD: Head-to-Barrel Separations & Overreach
28:00 – Corrective Actions That Ignore Supply Chain Reality
31:00 – Short-Wing Piper Rudder AD & the Vintage Aircraft Association Fight
36:00 – Cessna 402 vs. 414 Spar Strap AD: When Scope Goes Too Far
41:00 – What Is an AMOC & How Can It Help Aircraft Owners?
43:00 – The Global AMOC: Continental's V-Band Clamp Solution
47:00 – The Airworthiness Concern Sheet: A Better Way That's Now Gone
53:00 – Twin Cessna Exhaust AD: How Industry Input Saved the Fleet
57:00 – DERs, ODAs & the 2025 Policy Shift Affecting Designee
1:05:00 – The PMA Approval Process: Slower & More Cumbersome Than Ever 
1:10:00 – Why PMA Parts Are the Lifeline for Aging GA Aircraft 
1:19:00 – The NORSEE Process: A Rare Bright Spot in FAA Approvals 
1:22:00 – The Need for Young Engineers & the Future of the Aging Fleet 
1:27:00 – Final Thoughts: Lobbying for a Better AD Process

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In this episode of Aviation Masters, Mike Busch sits down with Bruce Landsberg—former NTSB Vice Chairman, longtime president of the AOPA Air Safety Institute, and author of the new book Learning from Icarus—for an extraordinary conversation spanning nearly 50 years of aviation safety experience.

From his early days as a Cessna demo pilot to pioneering simulator training at FlightSafety, leading accident investigations at the NTSB, and analyzing the future of automation in aviation, Bruce shares hard-won insights that every pilot, owner, and aviation professional needs to hear. 

This episode covers single-engine emergencies in twins, the value of realistic training, accident investigation philosophy, weather-related crashes, the promise and pitfalls of automation, and why learning from past mistakes is the key to staying alive in aviation.

⏱ Chapters
00:00 – Introduction: 40 Years of Friendship & Aviation Safety
03:00 – The Reality Check: Twin Engine Failures in the Simulator vs. Real Life
08:00 – Growing Up in Washington DC & Getting Into Aviation
12:00 – Vietnam, Air Force ROTC & Learning to Fly at College Park
18:00 – From Psychology Major to Professional Pilot
23:00 – Cessna Aircraft Company & Selling Fleets to Flight Schools
28:00 – The 310 Demo Flight That Changed Everything
35:00 – Moving to FlightSafety & The Revolution in Simulator Training
42:00 – Why Simulators Teach What Aircraft Can't
48:00 – Transitioning to AOPA & The Air Safety Foundation
55:00 – Building the ASI: Philosophy, Programs & Outreach
1:02:00 – JFK Jr.'s Fatal Crash: What Really Happened
1:09:00 – Spatial Disorientation, VFR Into IMC & The "What Was He Thinking?" Question
1:17:00 – Joining the NTSB: From Advocacy to Investigation
1:25:00 – Inside NTSB Accident Investigations: Process, Politics & Public Perception
1:33:00 – The Colgan 3407 Crash: Fatigue, Training & Industry Change
1:42:00 – Weather Accidents: Why Smart Pilots Still Fly Into Storms
1:49:00 – Icing, Convective Weather & The Role of Get-There-Itis
1:56:00 – Automation in Aviation: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
2:03:00 – Tesla Autopilot, AI & What Aviation Can Learn from Automotive
2:09:00 – The Future: Flight Data Monitoring for GA Aircraft
2:15:00 – Learning from Icarus: Writing the Book & Key Takeaways
2:21:00 – Where to Get the Book & Final Thoughts

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🔗 Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Bruce Landsberg's Book: Learning from Icarus – https://learningfromicarus.com/
Email: learningfromicarus@gmail.com

Books by Mike Busch: https://www.savvyaviation.com/resources/#books

In this episode of Aviation Masters, Mike Busch sits down with Dr. John Sipple — machine learning professor at George Washington University, former Boeing Phantom Works engineer, Google AI veteran, and Diamond DA40 owner — for one of the most forward-looking conversations in the show's history.

From tracking ballistic missiles with Kalman filters to training neural networks at Google to building AI-powered diagnostics for GA aircraft, John brings a uniquely deep and practical perspective on where artificial intelligence is headed in aviation. The conversation covers everything from how to certify ML models with the FAA, to why technicians struggle with troubleshooting, to the Diamond DA40 oil pressure failures that inspired John to found Vyzerion AI.

If you own, maintain, or fly a piston aircraft, and especially if you've ever wondered what AI can actually do for GA safety, this episode is essential listening.

⏱ Chapters
00:49 – Introducing Dr. John Sipple
05:30 – Boeing Phantom Works: Missile Tracking & Kalman Filters
09:30 – From Big Data to Machine Learning: The Career Pivot
11:45 – AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning: Defining the Terms
14:00 – How Neural Networks Work & Why 2012 Was a Turning Point
18:00 – Applying ML to Telemetry: From Missiles to Aircraft Engines
26:00 – What Is Explainable AI (XAI) and Why It Matters in Aviation
36:00 – Anomaly Detection in Piston Engines: How It Works
47:00 – Project Spark: Savvy Aviation's AI Diagnostics Initiative
53:00 – Training vs. Inference: Why the FAA Draws a Hard Line
55:00 – How You Certify an ML Model for Aircraft Use
59:00 – Why Tesla FSD Couldn't Happen in Certificated Aviation
1:00:00 – Experimental Aircraft as the Path to AI in the Cockpit
1:05:00 – Three Lines of Defense for AI in Mission-Critical Systems
1:09:00 – The Vision for Self-Diagnosing Airplanes
1:13:00 – Why Mechanics Struggle with Troubleshooting (And How AI Fixes It)
1:18:00 – Project Squawk: Training an LLM on Aviation Maintenance Data
1:19:00 – The Data Funnel: Small Models → Explainability → LLM Reasoning
1:24:00 – The Cadillac Index & Why GA Affordability Is Getting Worse
1:25:00 – Autonomous Aircraft vs. Autonomous Cars: Why Is GA So Far Behind?
1:27:00 – Vyzerion AI: Smarter Diagnostics, Healthier Aircraft, Safer Flying
1:28:00 – The Diamond DA40 Service Bulletin & In-Flight Oil Pressure Failures
1:35:00 – Broader AI Fears, Regulation & the Elevator Analogy
1:48:00 – Multimodal AI & the Future of Richer Diagnostics
1:49:00 – Using LLMs to Query the NTSB Accident Database
1:51:00 – Annual Inspections: Are They Helping or Hurting Safety?

📍 Subscribe to Aviation Masters for more long-form conversations with the people shaping the future of GA.

🔗 Resources Mentioned in This Episode
Vyzerion AI  —https://vyzerionai.com/
Savvy Aviation — savvyaviation.com
NTSB Aviation Accident Database - https://carol.ntsb.gov/

In this in-depth episode of Aviation Masters, Mike Busch sits down again with George Braly to tackle some of the most urgent issues facing general aviation today.
From aging aircraft fuel system failures to the FAA’s draft unleaded fuel transition plan, and from certification gridlock to PMA delays, this episode dives deep into what aircraft owners, mechanics, and industry leaders need to understand right now.
If you own, maintain, or operate piston aircraft — this conversation affects you.

⏱ Chapters
03:00 – Elastomers, O-Rings & Why Old Seals Are Causing Fires
07:00 – Upgrading to Modern FKM (Fluorosilicone) O-Rings
11:30 – Why Fuel Leaks Don’t Always Show Up During Inspections
18:00 – FAA Draft Plan to Transition to Unleaded Avgas
21:00 – The Risks of Modifying Engines for Lower-Octane Fuel
26:00 – How Retarded Timing Impacts Horsepower & Twin Safety
33:00 – Is There Already a True Drop-In Replacement for 100LL?
41:00 – FAA Reorganization: Why Certification Is Slower Than Ever
48:00 – DERs, ODAs & Why Delegation Keeps Aviation Alive
57:00 – PMA Parts, OEM Shutdowns & The Parts Supply Crisis
1:04:00 – Is Certification Still Worth the Cost?
1:08:00 – What Aircraft Owners Should Do Now

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