Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

What could cause an engine to “skip” momentarily?

Asked by: 1312 views Aircraft Systems, General Aviation

And how much of a concern would it be if it just happened once during a flight for less than a second, but otherwise the engine was running fine?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Jun 25, 2020

    A momentary miss is not totally uncommon. The engine needs fuel, air, and a spark. Of these, the most common reason for a solitary miss in the engine is the spark. This can be from a fouled plug or a bad electrical lead or a magneto. If the magneto’s haven’t been overhauled in 500 hours, then it is a good idea to have them inspected and the plugs cleaned and gapped.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. KDS on Jun 26, 2020

    My personal experience involved a bit of water.

    Of course, there is also a gremlin who lives in aircraft engines and he will do things like that when you\’re flying at night, over water, over mountains, or even over the wrong place in a combat zone.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.