Incident Overview
On 8 July 2015, a Cessna 172 aircraft was taxiing after landing at EPCD (Chełm-Depułtycze Królewskie) airport. After leaving the grass runway 19L, the engine automatically shut down. Two subsequent attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful. The aircraft was then pushed to a hangar. This flight was the last before a scheduled 500-hour inspection.
Sequence of Events
According to the investigation report, the engine failure occurred during taxi following a normal landing. The pilot attempted to restart the engine twice, but both attempts failed. The aircraft was moved manually to the hangar. The next day, before the 500-hour inspection, the cold engine started without any issues. The 500-hour inspection includes, among other tasks, repairs to magnetos according to the manual – some components are replaced mandatory, while others are checked and adjusted or replaced depending on condition.
Investigation and Findings
The investigation did not identify the cause of the engine shutting down during taxi. However, difficulties in restarting a hot engine may occur when magnetos are near the end of their service interval. The most probable cause of the inability to restart the engine after it shut down was determined to be the technical condition of the magnetos (end of service period before inspection). Other causes were excluded during the inspection. No safety recommendations were issued by the Polish State Aviation Accident Investigation Commission (PKBWL) upon conclusion of the investigation.