depends on how you want the effect to come to view.

otherwise, take a look at how other aircraft designers did it (but dont plaguerise [sp]). It is normally an effect added to the [lights] section of the aircraft.cfg file. Gauges can also be put onto the panel that are a) invisible and b) a trigger to set this effect off at a certain RPM or throttle level etc. you could put say a smoke effect in the [effects] section too.

hope that helps, not too detailed but still.
dano.