Narrative:

We were given the task of doing a maintenance check flight on an aircraft that had a recent history of engine surging and propeller overspeeds. After coordinating with [ATC] we were given an area to do a high speed engine run-up. We ran the engines at different RPM and torque settings and noted no abnormalities. We also did a handful of auto-feather tests and noted no abnormalities. At this point we were comfortable with continuing with the test flight. On the take-off roll everything appeared to be normal until just prior to reaching V1. Then the #2 engine surged to approximately 97% (from approximately 90%) and then immediately dropped to approximately 40%. I immediately aborted the take-off and notified ATC.ATC had us taxi off the runway and asked if we needed any assistance. At this time all engine indications were back to normal again so I declined assistance. We then ran the rejected take off checklist. After that was complete; we requested taxi instructions back to remote parking. While taxiing to remote parking; we now noticed anytime the #2 throttle was increased above the 'disc' range; the prop RPM would momentarily enter the propeller prohibited range. Shortly after noticing that; we then experienced a 'prop overspeed' on the ground. Directional control of the aircraft was immediately hard to maintain so the #2 engine was abruptly brought back to the feather position and then shut down. At this point; we were abeam our assigned parking spot at remote parking; so we made the decision to single engine taxi to our parking spot. We then continued with shutting down the aircraft and running all appropriate normal and abnormal checklists. At this point we coordinated with maintenance to let them know the test flight was unsatisfactory and noted the abnormalities in the logbook for further investigation.a few high speed taxi runs down the runway should be attempted before the next maintenance flight.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Dash 8-200 Captain reported rejecting takeoff on a Maintenance check flight when Number 2 engine power surged.

Narrative: We were given the task of doing a maintenance check flight on an aircraft that had a recent history of engine surging and propeller overspeeds. After coordinating with [ATC] we were given an area to do a high speed engine run-up. We ran the engines at different RPM and Torque settings and noted no abnormalities. We also did a handful of auto-feather tests and noted no abnormalities. At this point we were comfortable with continuing with the test flight. On the take-off roll everything appeared to be normal until just prior to reaching V1. Then the #2 engine surged to approximately 97% (from approximately 90%) and then immediately dropped to approximately 40%. I immediately aborted the take-off and notified ATC.ATC had us taxi off the runway and asked if we needed any assistance. At this time all engine indications were back to normal again so I declined assistance. We then ran the rejected Take off checklist. After that was complete; we requested taxi instructions back to remote parking. While taxiing to remote parking; we now noticed anytime the #2 throttle was increased above the 'DISC' range; the prop RPM would momentarily enter the propeller prohibited range. Shortly after noticing that; we then experienced a 'prop overspeed' on the ground. Directional control of the aircraft was immediately hard to maintain so the #2 engine was abruptly brought back to the feather position and then shut down. At this point; we were abeam our assigned parking spot at remote parking; so we made the decision to single engine taxi to our parking spot. We then continued with shutting down the aircraft and running all appropriate normal and abnormal checklists. At this point we coordinated with maintenance to let them know the test flight was unsatisfactory and noted the abnormalities in the logbook for further investigation.A few high speed taxi runs down the runway should be attempted before the next maintenance flight.

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.