Narrative:

Everything leading up to this flight was normal. My arrival into oakland had no events out of the ordinary. The plane flew flawlessly. No previous mechanical anomalies were observed. On the day of the incident I performed a detailed pre-flight inspection for my two hour flight; a weight and balance; and received a detailed weather briefing from FSS. During the pre-flight I specifically remember having 7.5 quarts of oil in the sump of the engine. After I was ready to go I started the engine and called for my IFR clearance. I received my IFR clearance then my taxi clearance. Before calling for my takeoff clearance I performed a normal run-up. I also checked the operation of the magnetos and every other checklist item. During my run-up I cycled the propeller control three times per the checklist. Each time I cycled the prop; the propeller RPM decreased as it's supposed to. I only allow the RPM to decrease as much as the checklist calls for. Adding the propeller control back in brought the RPM back to full RPM for the manifold pressure I had. Once all my gauges were in the 'green'; I called for my takeoff clearance. I had a normal takeoff and initial climb. Once passing through 4500 ft I noticed the engine RPM had climbed to 3000 RPM - 300 RPM over red line. At this point it couldn't have been longer than 10-30 seconds; as I constantly scan the gauges to make sure everything stays where it should. I immediately looked at the oil pressure gauge and it was in the green. Every other gauge was well within its limits. I tried to pull the propeller control back a few turns in hopes the blade pitch would change. That failed so I reduced power to about 20 inches of manifold pressure; which gave me 2500 RPM on the tachometer. Once I had the situation under control; and leveled the plane off. I called norcal approach to get a turn back the airport because of a mechanical problem. Norcal immediately gave me a turn back to the airport and a decent to 3000 ft. Norcal asked the nature of my mechanical problem and I told them I suspected a propeller governor failure but I had the RPM under control by reducing manifold pressure. After the initial overspeed I did not allow it to reach red line again. I reduced the power further for the decent. I kept the plane high to ensure that I would make the airport. When I acquired the airport in my sight; I notified norcal and they cleared me for the visual approach runway 27R. Besides keeping the plane high on the approach in case of an engine failure; the approach was normal. The landing was also normal and uneventful. As I exited the runway I taxied to parking. Before engine shut down I brought the engine RPM up to 1500 and tried to cycle the propeller control one more time and nothing happened. It's my opinion that the propeller governor had failed allowing the pitch of the blades to go to the stops. After shut down I checked the oil again and the engine still had 7.5 quarts of oil. There was also no oil leaking; nor any oil leaking at the hub of the propeller. It's also my opinion that there is nothing else I could have done. I feel I did everything I could.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C-172 pilot experienced propeller control problem.

Narrative: Everything leading up to this flight was normal. My arrival into Oakland had no events out of the ordinary. The plane flew flawlessly. No previous mechanical anomalies were observed. On the day of the incident I performed a detailed pre-flight inspection for my two hour flight; a weight and balance; and received a detailed weather briefing from FSS. During the pre-flight I specifically remember having 7.5 quarts of oil in the sump of the engine. After I was ready to go I started the engine and called for my IFR clearance. I received my IFR clearance then my taxi clearance. Before calling for my takeoff clearance I performed a normal run-up. I also checked the operation of the magnetos and every other checklist item. During my run-up I cycled the propeller control three times per the checklist. Each time I cycled the prop; the propeller RPM decreased as it's supposed to. I only allow the RPM to decrease as much as the checklist calls for. Adding the propeller control back in brought the RPM back to full RPM for the manifold pressure I had. Once all my gauges were in the 'green'; I called for my takeoff clearance. I had a normal takeoff and initial climb. Once passing through 4500 FT I noticed the engine RPM had climbed to 3000 RPM - 300 RPM over red line. At this point it couldn't have been longer than 10-30 seconds; as I constantly scan the gauges to make sure everything stays where it should. I immediately looked at the oil pressure gauge and it was in the green. Every other gauge was well within its limits. I tried to pull the propeller control back a few turns in hopes the blade pitch would change. That failed so I reduced power to about 20 inches of manifold pressure; which gave me 2500 RPM on the tachometer. Once I had the situation under control; and leveled the plane off. I called NorCal Approach to get a turn back the airport because of a mechanical problem. NorCal immediately gave me a turn back to the airport and a decent to 3000 FT. NorCal asked the nature of my mechanical problem and I told them I suspected a propeller governor failure but I had the RPM under control by reducing manifold pressure. After the initial overspeed I did not allow it to reach red line again. I reduced the power further for the decent. I kept the plane high to ensure that I would make the airport. When I acquired the airport in my sight; I notified NorCal and they cleared me for the visual approach Runway 27R. Besides keeping the plane high on the approach in case of an engine failure; the approach was normal. The landing was also normal and uneventful. As I exited the runway I taxied to parking. Before engine shut down I brought the engine RPM up to 1500 and tried to cycle the propeller control one more time and nothing happened. It's my opinion that the propeller governor had failed allowing the pitch of the blades to go to the stops. After shut down I checked the oil again and the engine still had 7.5 quarts of oil. There was also no oil leaking; nor any oil leaking at the hub of the propeller. It's also my opinion that there is nothing else I could have done. I feel I did everything I could.

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.