When; while at cruise; the unexplained loss of several inches of one prop blade resulted in uncontro...

Attributes
ACN	1128540
Time
Date	201311
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
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	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Engine
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 210 Flight Crew Type 57
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

Narrative:

While at cruise I heard a loud noise and then felt a massive shuddering of the aircraft. Both hands were used for control of the yoke. I declared an emergency with ATC; [and] then pulled the power back to idle. The oil access door came open and shortly afterwards the dip stick came flying out. ATC vectored us for a landing at an airport which was 3NM away from our present position. Upon reaching the airport environment; we flew a left hand circle around the approach end of runway while descending. Upon turning final; with landing assured; I pulled the mixture to full lean; and turned off the magnetos and fuel tanks. We landed on runway and rolled onto a taxiway. At that time we noticed that several inches of prop were missing from one end. There was no evidence of blood or feathers.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: When; while at cruise; the unexplained loss of several inches of one prop blade resulted in uncontrollable vibration of the C172-R the pilot was vectored to a nearby airport where he landed safely. There was no visible evidence of a bird strike.

Narrative: While at cruise I heard a loud noise and then felt a massive shuddering of the aircraft. Both hands were used for control of the yoke. I declared an emergency with ATC; [and] then pulled the power back to idle. The oil access door came open and shortly afterwards the dip stick came flying out. ATC vectored us for a landing at an airport which was 3NM away from our present position. Upon reaching the airport environment; we flew a left hand circle around the approach end of runway while descending. Upon turning final; with landing assured; I pulled the mixture to full lean; and turned off the magnetos and fuel tanks. We landed on runway and rolled onto a taxiway. At that time we noticed that several inches of prop were missing from one end. There was no evidence of blood or feathers.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

When; while at cruise; the unexplained loss of several inches of one prop blade resulted in uncontrollable vibration of the C172-right the pilot was vectored to a nearby airport where he landed safely. There was no visible evidence of a bird strike.