Definition
The unintended extinguishing of the flame inside a turbine engine's combustion chamber, causing the engine to stop producing thrust. In icing conditions, it can be triggered when ice accumulated on engine inlet surfaces breaks loose and is ingested, disrupting the airflow and fuel-air mixture needed to sustain combustion.
Plain English
The fire inside a jet engine goes out, so the engine stops running. Ice shedding into the engine is one cause.
Context Anchor
Seen in turbine-engine icing discussions, especially when induction icing affects airflow into the engine.
Derivation
Combustor comes from the Latin comburere, meaning 'to burn up,' and refers to the chamber inside a turbine engine where fuel is burned. Flameout is plain English: the flame goes out. Together, the term names the event of the burner's flame being extinguished.
Why Pilots Care
Results in immediate loss of engine thrust and requires prompt relight or restart procedures to avoid forced landing.
Analogy
It is like a camp stove being blown out or starved of air: fuel may still be available, but the steady burning stops.
Intuition Check
Do not read flameout as a small external fire going out. In this context, it means the engine has lost the steady burning it needs to make power.
Example Sentence 1
The crew suspected ice ingestion caused the combustor flameout shortly after climbing through a layer of supercooled cloud.
Example Sentence 2
The crew recognized the signs of a combustor flameout and followed the emergency checklist to restore power.