Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 14; Flight Crew Total 119.6; Flight Crew Type 119
Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Physiological - Other; Fatigue; Distraction; Training / Qualification
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Human Factors
On the date of the incident; I flew the incident aircraft for 3 hours on a cross country flight.  I was completing the flight to build cross country time for my instrument rating.  During the preflight; I checked all of the systems; and did not find anything. To the best of my knowledge; I did not skip anything; and I checked my results against the checklist to be sure the aircraft was airworthy.  Specifically regarding the propeller; I do not remember running my hand down the tip as I usually do; but I also do not remember noticing anything out of the ordinary.  After I was satisfied with the preflight; I proceeded with the flight.  I stopped for fuel; and before I proceeded I did not complete a preflight check other than sumping the fuel tanks to ensure that the fuel was not contaminated.  I felt that this was adequate as I had not left the aircraft during the fueling process so I was confident that nothing had occurred that would affect its airworthiness. During both legs of the flight I noticed a slight clicking noise; similar to how a fan would sound if it was hitting something each time it went around; every time the aircraft was stressed due to turbulence.  This was enough to keep me looking for alternative landing sites during the flight; but not enough to cause me to land and inspect for damage.  Upon completing the flight I chocked the aircraft and left.  Two days after my flight my CFI called me; and informed me that in the flight previous to mine; which occurred the evening before; the incident aircraft had sustained a prop strike.  There was substantial damage to the propeller; including a severely bent tip and a hole in the metal.  There was also internal engine damage; including the firewall. I must have missed this during my preflight; although I am shocked to find that I did.  A few potential reasons come to mind when I try to figure out how I could have made such an error. In the hours leading up to the flight I had been working washing other planes.  Due to this; I was somewhat fatigued.  Also; my flight was originally scheduled to start at 3 PM; but I did not start until nearly 4 PM.  I was supposed to be bringing dinner home that evening; and I think I may have been suffering a form of get-home-itis before I even left the ground.  Another possible factor was my fixation on the low fuel.  I do my preflight in a circular manner; starting behind the left wing and working my way back around to the left wing before entering the aircraft.  Just before I would have been checking the nose section I had checked the fuel in the right wing tank; and it was quite low.  While I should have been focusing on checking the nose section and specifically the propeller; I was considering what I should do about the fuel on board; which was not adequate for my entire planned flight. At such a critical time I should have been focused on doing exactly what I was supposed to do.  Also; although I usually did my preflight inspection in a certain way; I did not do it this way every single time.  This lack of standardization directly caused me to not adequately check the prop for damage; as I generally ran my hand over the edge of it; which would have certainly alerted me to the damage.   Another mistake I made was that of not checking the suspicious noise when I stopped for fuel.  I had noticed the sound; and knew that it was out of place; but once I had landed for fuel I did not check on the cause of it.  This incident seemed to be caused by quite a chain of mistakes; all of which were preventable and any one of which would have alerted me to the problem.
Private pilot describes his inadequate pre-flight of a Cessna 172 and his failure to detect significant damage sustained the day before; and presumably by someone else. The reporter was informed by his instructor; two days after the fact; that he had flown the aircraft on several flights with serious damage to the engine; propeller; and firewall.