Powered by two of Lycoming's TIO-540-J2BD 350-horsepower turbocharged six-cylinder engines, the Piper Navajo is a problem child for engine detonation.

by Marc Cook

It's said you learn more out in the halls than in the classroom, which we take as a clever way to suggest that real-world experiences count for a lot more than stale lectures and absorption by rote. One object lesson is worth a thousand texts.

Truisms are hardly universal, but this one applies to the pilot of a certain Piper Navajo and the way he learned about fuel contamination, detonation and preignition, and the true value of an all-cylinder engine monitor. We talked to this pilot shortly after his flight, and have reviewed the data exported from the J.P. Instruments'EDM-800 engine monitor--between the two, it's possible to create a…