According to the student pilot, he departed Twin Airpark (8NC2) in Caroleen, North Carolina, in the X-Air H, to fly to Rutherford County Airport (KFQD) to get fuel.
After obtaining about 18 gallons of fuel at KFQD, he returned to 8NC2 and completed one landing. He elected to depart 8NC2 again and took off to the north from Runway 14 for more touch-and-go landing practice.
When he entered the downwind leg of the traffic pattern for Runway 14 and reduced engine power; the engine lost total power. He attempted to restart the engine with the electric fuel pump turned on and with the engine choked, however the engine failed to restart.
The pilot made a forced landing in a field, which resulted in the nose landing gear collapsing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage at the left and right main landing gear mounting points.
A post-accident engine examination revealed that the spark plugs displayed coloration consistent with normal engine operation. Compression and valvetrain movement was observed on all cylinders. Continuity of the crankshaft to the camshaft was confirmed. The oil filter was removed and inspected with no discrepancies noted. With the airplane battery on and ignition switch on, the engine was rotated by hand, but the ignition coil did not produce spark.
Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power due to an inoperative ignition system.
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This March 2024 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
That’s a tough scenario on a student pilot.
With a dual, flywheel magneto system, I’d like to know how both circuits failed. ?
did he maybe bump the P-lead switches ?
Jabiru has an optional E-ignition, so maybe it was this system ?