DA20-C1 Eclipse
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70; Flight Crew Total 160; Flight Crew Type 20
Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency; General Maintenance Action
Procedure; Aircraft
I went to fly in early evening and did one touch and go in ZZZ; a few at ZZZ1; one in ZZZ2 and one in ZZZ3. The plane had just been released a few hours earlier from Maintenance for a problem to the propeller. After the last touch and go in ZZZ3; I climbed to 3;500 FT MSL and leveled. I was on my way back to ZZZ; when suddenly the engine vibrated for about one second. For safety reasons I decided to climb to 12;000 FT MSL to have as much altitude as possible to glide. The engine after the vibration seemed to work normally; but when I was 8 NM NE of ZZZ still at 12;000 FT MSL; the engine died.I tried to restart it all the way down to the airport in different ways (faithfully following the Checklist; hot start; normal cold start; with and without fuel pump on; mixture rich; leaned and cut-off) but there was no way to restart it. I declared an Emergency on ZZZ Unicom; but there were no one monitoring the frequency. I safely landed in ZZZ on Runway XX and stopped before 'B' T. I tried again on the ground to restart the engine and after three minutes trying; the engine started again. I taxied to the hangar and left the plane in Hangar X the FBO; the day after; changed the propeller; the oil; the oil filter and cleaned all the spark plugs but they didn't find the reason for the shutdown.
A Private Pilot reports the engine on his Diamond DA-20C1 Eclipse aircraft quit suddenly at 12;000 FT MSL after previously experiencing a momentary engine vibration. Emergency declared. Aircraft would not restart until on the ground. FBO Maintenance could not determine cause.