A quick reference for the aviation and app terms used throughout this guide. Terms are bolded on first use elsewhere and link here. Entries are alphabetical.
A&P — Airframe and Powerplant mechanic: a mechanic certificated by the FAA to perform and approve maintenance on an aircraft's airframe and engine. When this guide says "hand the set to your mechanic," the A&P is usually who is meant.
AirBox — A WiFi adapter that lets a wired borescope stream its picture to an iPhone or iPad over WiFi instead of a cable. Pairing a borescope with an AirBox is one of the two ways Jug Scope connects to a scope (the other is a direct USB-C cable to an iPad). See §3, Hardware Setup.
Analyst-ready — Describes an inspection that is complete and organized in the form an engine analyst expects: all eleven views on every cylinder, in order, clearly labeled. An analyst-ready set is one an expert (or the automated screening they rely on) can read straight away.
Automated screening — A first-pass, software-assisted review of an inspection that flags likely problem areas for a human analyst. It depends on getting the standard views captured cleanly, which is exactly what Jug Scope's guided workflow is designed to produce.
BDC (Bottom Dead Center) — The point where the piston has traveled all the way down in the cylinder, with both valves closed. Most of the eleven views are shot from this position because it gives the clearest look at the piston crown and the full barrel wall. See §4.3.
Borescope — A thin, flexible (or rigid) probe with a camera and light at its tip, used to look inside a cylinder through the spark-plug hole without disassembling the engine. Jug Scope works with WiFi and USB-C borescopes; recommended hardware is listed in §3, Hardware Setup.
Cross-shop — Jug Scope's network for maintenance shops to receive and send inspections across shops, claim and manage tails, and grant or revoke access. Reached through Jug Scope Cloud in Settings. See §6.2.
Cylinder — One combustion chamber of a piston engine, containing a piston, an intake valve, and an exhaust valve. A typical piston GA engine has four or six cylinders, and Jug Scope inspects each one with the same eleven views. See §4.2.
Cylinder overview — The screen that shows every cylinder in the engine at a glance, color-coded by progress (gray for not started, amber for in progress, green with a checkmark for complete) with overall completion across the top. It is your home base during an inspection. See §4.2.
Cylinder wall (barrel) — The inner surface of the cylinder that the piston rides against. Four of the eleven views photograph it at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions to cover a full 360 degrees, so wear has nowhere to hide. See §4.3.
Exhaust valve — The valve that lets burned gases out of the cylinder. It runs hotter than the intake valve and usually shows more heat color, which is part of why two of the eleven views target it specifically. See §4.3.
GA (General Aviation) — Civil aviation other than scheduled airline and military flying — the world of privately owned piston aircraft that Jug Scope is built for.
Hobbs — The Hobbs meter records elapsed time the engine (or aircraft) is running, used to track hours for maintenance and billing. Recording the Hobbs reading when you start an inspection stamps the record with engine time, which is what makes a comparison between inspections meaningful. See §4.1.
Image set — A complete, organized collection of the images from one inspection — all cylinders, all views, labeled and in order. The image set is the deliverable: what you review, compare, share, or send out for analysis.
Intake valve — The valve that lets the fuel-air mixture into the cylinder. It runs cooler than the exhaust valve and sits on the opposite side; two of the eleven views cover its sealing surfaces and stem. See §4.3.
.jugscope archive — Jug Scope's file format for a complete inspection — its images and details bundled into a single file. It is what gets created when you export an inspection and what you import when someone shares one with you. See §10, Importing & Sample Data.
Jug Scope Cloud — The Settings area that holds your account's cloud features: your signed-in status and sign-out, plus the cross-shop tools for claiming and managing tails and sharing inspections. See §2.6 and §6.2.
Piston crown — The top face of the piston, viewed straight down from above in the first of the eleven views. Its condition is one of the basic indicators of how the cylinder is running. See §4.3.
Primary image — When you capture more than one shot of the same view, the primary image is the one marked as the best — the one shown by default and used when the inspection is shared. You can change which image is primary while reviewing. See §5, Reviewing & Comparing.
Tach (tachometer time) — Engine time recorded by the tachometer, often used as the official measure of engine hours for maintenance. Like the Hobbs reading, recording the Tach time at the start of an inspection anchors it in your engine's history. See §4.1.
Tail number — The registration number painted on an aircraft (in the United States, beginning with "N"), used as its unique identity. In Jug Scope each aircraft is identified by its tail number, and inspections, sharing, and history are organized around it.
The eleven views — The standardized set of eleven images Jug Scope captures for every cylinder, in the same order each time: the piston crown, both valve heads, the four cylinder-wall positions, and — with the valves rotated open — the exhaust and intake sealing surfaces and stems. The full list and order is in §4.3.
USB-C — The cable connector used to plug a supported borescope directly into an iPad for the sharpest picture and lowest lag. (iPhone connects to a borescope over WiFi rather than USB-C.) See §3, Hardware Setup.
Valve seat / valve face — The matched sealing surfaces where a valve meets the cylinder when it closes; the face is on the valve, the seat is in the cylinder head. Several of the eleven views photograph these surfaces with the valve rotated open. See §4.3.
View — A single, named shot in the inspection protocol — for example, "Exhaust Valve Head" or "Cylinder Wall — 3 O'Clock." Each cylinder is documented with the same eleven views, and Jug Scope guides you through them in order. See §4.3.
View reassignment — Changing which view a captured image belongs to — useful if a shot was taken under the wrong label. You can reassign a view while reviewing an inspection. See §5, Reviewing & Comparing.