A pilot flying a piper pawnee PA-25 and towing a glider; reports shedding the last six inches of one...

Attributes
ACN	834470
Time
Date	200905
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-36 Pawnee Brave
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Propeller Blade
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 2.5 Flight Crew Total 335 Flight Crew Type 75
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

While towing a glider the 235 hp pawnee shed 6 inches of propeller. This was a two-blade mccauley propeller. It's possible the prop was involved in a prop stop incident involving a runway sign many months ago. Currently checking logs. This incident occurred at a point nearly over the airport. Both the glider and the tow plane landed safely. There is no obvious leading edge damage from which the failure could have propagated. The incident happened on the 11th tow of the day. I eyeballed the leading edge (of the prop blades) prior to the first tow but not after. I considered it to be ding free. Various club members have speculated about whether a report needs to be filed with the NTSB. The last conclusion by the maintenance office was 'no'; but that may change. The plan is to tear down the engine to inspect for damage that might have occurred because of the imbalance and to inspect the airframe as well.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Pilot flying a Piper Pawnee PA-25 and towing a glider; reports shedding the last six inches of one of his two McCauley prop blades; causing serious vibration and an eventual dead stick landing.

Narrative: While towing a glider the 235 hp Pawnee shed 6 inches of propeller. This was a two-blade McCauley propeller. It's possible the prop was involved in a prop stop incident involving a runway sign many months ago. Currently checking logs. This incident occurred at a point nearly over the Airport. Both the glider and the tow plane landed safely. There is no obvious leading edge damage from which the failure could have propagated. The incident happened on the 11th tow of the day. I eyeballed the leading edge (of the prop blades) prior to the first tow but not after. I considered it to be ding free. Various Club members have speculated about whether a report needs to be filed with the NTSB. The last conclusion by the Maintenance office was 'no'; but that may change. The plan is to tear down the engine to inspect for damage that might have occurred because of the imbalance and to inspect the airframe as well.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

A pilot flying a piper pawnee PA-25 and towing a glider; reports shedding the last six inches of one of his two mccauley prop blades; causing serious vibration and an eventual dead stick landing.