A C172 instructor with student reported a taxiway excursion and propeller damage during an attempted...

Narrative:

We preflighted the airplane and then did our start up and began taxiing from the FBO. As we pulled away we turned left and then checked the brakes. Seemed to be no problems. Then we turned left again taxiing onto taxiway alpha and headed toward the runway. I was with a new student and this was our 6th lesson. When we approached the runup area; we veered left a bit and then planned on turning right to turn into the wind. We were close to the side of the runup area on the left side; but not too close to the edge. We were not taxiing fast because we were getting ready to turn. When we began to turn right because we were coming to the edge of the runup area (had to turn right to stay on runup area) the student pilot applied right rudder and brakes. The airplane did not respond as quickly as we expected and then I attempted to help get it at least stopped. The airplane turned sharp left and we went off the runup area striking a taxi light globe. The base of the light was not damaged. I shut down the engine and got out to inspect the damage. The propeller did have some deep nicks in it. We pushed the plane back onto the runup area; reviewed what had happened and restarted the engine; checking all the gages and returned to the FBO. We were thankful that no other aircraft were around; and that we were not trying to land and not have full response on the right side of the rudder. I contacted the airport authority and they replaced the globe. The owner of the FBO was contacted and the mechanics tore down the engine as per ad for prop strike. There were no problems with the engine and the propeller can be salvaged and put back into service. I did learn that the mechanics had replaced the left side of the brakes a day or two before. One other pilot mentioned that when he had flown it the day before that it did not respond turning right as well as the left in flight. He did not write it up; but even if he had squawked it we would not have seen it because we left before the FBO opened and would not have seen the write up on it.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C172 Instructor with student reported a taxiway excursion and propeller damage during an attempted turn in the runup area; due to possible brake or nose wheel steering issue.

Narrative: We preflighted the airplane and then did our start up and began taxiing from the FBO. As we pulled away we turned left and then checked the brakes. Seemed to be no problems. Then we turned left again taxiing onto taxiway Alpha and headed toward the runway. I was with a new student and this was our 6th lesson. When we approached the runup area; we veered left a bit and then planned on turning right to turn into the wind. We were close to the side of the runup area on the left side; but not too close to the edge. We were not taxiing fast because we were getting ready to turn. When we began to turn right because we were coming to the edge of the runup area (had to turn right to stay on runup area) the student pilot applied right rudder and brakes. The airplane did not respond as quickly as we expected and then I attempted to help get it at least stopped. The airplane turned sharp left and we went off the runup area striking a taxi light globe. The base of the light was not damaged. I shut down the engine and got out to inspect the damage. The propeller did have some deep nicks in it. We pushed the plane back onto the runup area; reviewed what had happened and restarted the engine; checking all the gages and returned to the FBO. We were thankful that no other aircraft were around; and that we were not trying to land and not have full response on the right side of the rudder. I contacted the Airport Authority and they replaced the globe. The owner of the FBO was contacted and the mechanics tore down the engine as per AD for prop strike. There were no problems with the engine and the propeller can be salvaged and put back into service. I did learn that the mechanics had replaced the left side of the brakes a day or two before. One other pilot mentioned that when he had flown it the day before that it did not respond turning right as well as the left in flight. He did not write it up; but even if he had squawked it we would not have seen it because we left before the FBO opened and would not have seen the write up on it.

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.

Attributes
ACN	955269
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dawn
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Brake System
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 37 Flight Crew Total 2408 Flight Crew Type 1700
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Ground Excursion Taxiway

A C172 instructor with student reported a taxiway excursion and propeller damage during an attempted turn in the runup area; due to possible brake or nose wheel steering issue.