Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 173.6; Flight Crew Total 701.2
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors
Prior to departing for an introductory flight training lesson I; as the instructor; walked my student through the pre-flight actions and walk around for the Cessna 172 we would be flying. He had previous training at other flight schools so I let him help me with some of the checklist items. Once I had finished the walk around with my student I had him help me pull the pre-flighted airplane out of the hangar. As we were pulling the airplane out; my student reminded me that he was in need of a headset. I set the tow bar down; still attached to the nose wheel; and went to retrieve a headset from inside our flight training building. When I came back out; I handed him the headset and explained how it worked as I approached the airplane from behind. Both the student and I entered the plane from the rear unable to see the still attached tow bar. We started the airplane and taxied to the runway without any indication or warning that the tow bar was still attached. Everything seemed normal as we took off. We spent an hour familiarizing with the airplane before we came back for landing. I was at the controls during the entire approach and landing. The landing was soft and there was no indication of any impact from the tow bar. We taxied off the runway and returned to park; still with no abnormal effects from the tow bar. It was not until we shut the engine down that we were informed that it had been attached for the entire flight. The bar managed to cause no major damage to the aircraft other than a few millimeter nick on the tip of one of the propeller blades.Fortunately; no one was injured and no major damage was caused to persons or property but this incident could easily have been avoided. A quick double check and walk around before engine start would have revealed that the bar was still there. It also would have been beneficial to pre-flight the aircraft after it had been towed into position rather than prior. Distraction was a primary cause that should have been dealt with after the tow bar had been removed. There is no reason or excuse that this incident should ever happen again in the future and extra diligence will be taken from now on to ensure the aircraft is ready for flight.
C172 Instructor Pilot reported that distraction led to departing on a training flight with the tow bar still in place; resulting in minor damage to the prop.