C172 pilot returned to land after noting that the airspeed indication was erroneous on takeoff and t...

Attributes
ACN	1396889
Time
Date	201610
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Airspeed Indicator
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 1 Flight Crew Total 211 Flight Crew Type 106
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Speed All Types

Narrative:

During the takeoff roll on a normal takeoff; the airspeed indicator started to come alive as speed increased but did not fully reach takeoff speed though the aircraft felt as though it had. The aircraft rotated and took off normally but the airspeed indicator eventually settled to 0 just below pattern altitude. Using normal power and attitude setting and referencing the GPS groundspeed during relatively calm wind conditions; the aircraft was landed safely after a circuit in the pattern. The altimeter and vsi were not affected and alternate air did not resolve the problem; leaving me to believe the pitot system was the issue. Inspection on the ground of the pitot tube did not indicate any issues.what should have been done is the takeoff should have been aborted after noticing that airspeed was not continuing to increase past a certain point or that the airspeed indicator was not fully functional.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 Pilot returned to land after noting that the airspeed indication was erroneous on takeoff and then went to zero in the pattern. Altimeter and VSI were not affected and no issues were apparent with the pitot tube.

Narrative: During the takeoff roll on a normal takeoff; the airspeed indicator started to come alive as speed increased but did not fully reach takeoff speed though the aircraft felt as though it had. The aircraft rotated and took off normally but the airspeed indicator eventually settled to 0 just below pattern altitude. Using normal power and attitude setting and referencing the GPS groundspeed during relatively calm wind conditions; the aircraft was landed safely after a circuit in the pattern. The altimeter and VSI were not affected and alternate air did not resolve the problem; leaving me to believe the pitot system was the issue. Inspection on the ground of the pitot tube did not indicate any issues.What should have been done is the takeoff should have been aborted after noticing that airspeed was not continuing to increase past a certain point or that the airspeed indicator was not fully functional.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

C172 pilot returned to land after noting that the airspeed indication was erroneous on takeoff and then went to zero in the pattern. Altimeter and vsi were not affected and no issues were apparent with the pitot tube.