Aborted Take-Offs

MrLeisure757

MrLeisure757

New Member
Recently my instructor and I had been going over all emergency procedures for a solo review. One that came up was aborted take-offs, we performed one at 50 kts. Then we procedeed to perform one just at 100ft on take-off. It was very interesting and we got a "Nice Job" from the tower.

My question is, how many of you have ever had to perform an ACTUAL aborted take-off?
 
A few times in transport airplanes. Can't remember any in piston singles. But I definitely remember a couple of takeoffs (in pistons) I wish I had aborted.

Definitely an under-rated manuver.
 
I was giving an introductory lesson to a potential new student. He was in the left seat, his son in the back. We rotated, and got 50-100 feet into the air when the RPM dropped, We has plenty of runway left so I tried a quick tweak of the mixture to see if that was the problem. It wasn't and we landed on the remaining runway.
 
This summer while towing a glider with a 182 (with STOL Kit) I had to abort with about 500' of runway left and the glider already airborne. I was just getting off the pavement into ground effect (much further down the runway than usual) and the trees were approaching quickly and I was seeing pretty substantial airspeed fluctuations. As it turned out I the wind was shifting and I was experiencing a gusty right quartering tailwind. It was a pretty messy abort with the glider and the towrope there as well, but Im glad I chopped it because I doubt we would have cleared the trees. We all came to a stop (me left and the glider to my right) about 20 feet from the threshold lights.
 
A rejected takeoff in a transport jet is one of the most dangerous things that can happen. Very serious business.
 
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This summer while towing a glider with a 182 (with STOL Kit) I had to abort with about 500' of runway left and the glider already airborne. I was just getting off the pavement into ground effect (much further down the runway than usual) and the trees were approaching quickly and I was seeing pretty substantial airspeed fluctuations. As it turned out I the wind was shifting and I was experiencing a gusty right quartering tailwind. It was a pretty messy abort with the glider and the towrope there as well, but Im glad I chopped it because I doubt we would have cleared the trees. We all came to a stop (me left and the glider to my right) about 20 feet from the threshold lights.

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As a rated glider pilot let me be the first to say, YIKES!
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I did an aborted takeoff in a Warrior at about 50ft AGL. The cowling popped open, and there was enough runway left to settle the aircraft down and stop it. Pretty scary experience, but a good one nonetheless.
 
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My question is, how many of you have ever had to perform an ACTUAL aborted take-off?

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138 knots baby, yeah!
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This summer while towing a glider with a 182 (with STOL Kit) I had to abort with about 500' of runway left and the glider already airborne.

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Nice job! I can't believe how many people SHOULD abort but don't. On each pre-takeoff briefing, my studs include the phrase "If we're on the ground and experience any strange noises, unusal vibrations, abnormal indications, or loss of power we will immediately abort the takeoff . . . " and then go into the airborne routine. Every couple of flights I'll block the rudders to disable the steering, roll the trim wheel full-forward when they aren't looking, quietly pin the yoke in position with one hand casually resting on my knee, etc.

I'm floored by how often someone will verbally callout the problem (Rudders aren't working, yoke is stuck, unusually high backpressure, etc) and continue the takeoff roll! What, exactly, do they think we do the briefing for?! If something isn't right and you're on the ground with plenty of runway to stop, STAY ON THE GROUND!
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I stopped towing for a while after that one... Had to buy clean undies. I was only towing pretty high time commercial glider pilots (commercial rides with pax). I can’t even imagine towing new glider pilots… I did have a tow where the glider passenger pulled on the dive brakes shortly after we cleared the runway and the pilot some how did not catch it right away. Luckily we were using the one runway that has some open terrain off the end of it. The only way I could maintain safe airspeed was to slowly descend and we were only at 200-300 feet.. I gave the glider pilot a heads up that we had a problem and he got the picture quickly. That was as close as I ever came to pulling the release

That was my last tow. Ever.
 
Worst was getting a muffled snap sound then a master caution for hydraulics on takeoff roll. Noted the airspeed at 150-ish as I chopped the throttles to idle, lowered the nose back to the runway and commenced braking. Seeing the 2 board go by and still at 130 I gave the cursory "Awol 4, abort barrier-barrier" and shortly thereafter rolled into the departure end arresting gear, which worked like a champ, stopping the jet from 120 knots in about 100 feet.
 
I aborted a take off in a Warrior after my landing light failed on the take off roll (at night time). Wasn't really a big deal, just kinda exciting when everything in front of you gets dark just before rotation.
 
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This summer while towing a glider with a 182 (with STOL Kit) I had to abort with about 500' of runway left and the glider already airborne. I was just getting off the pavement into ground effect (much further down the runway than usual) and the trees were approaching quickly and I was seeing pretty substantial airspeed fluctuations. As it turned out I the wind was shifting and I was experiencing a gusty right quartering tailwind. It was a pretty messy abort with the glider and the towrope there as well, but Im glad I chopped it because I doubt we would have cleared the trees. We all came to a stop (me left and the glider to my right) about 20 feet from the threshold lights.

[/ QUOTE ]

As a rated glider pilot let me be the first to say, YIKES!
shocked.gif


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As a wanabe glider pilot let me asy YIKES!
shocked.gif
 
My second solo flight carrying skydivers I didn't realize that i had left the prop at 2100 RPM while landing.

I heard the engine rev up, then slow down as the governer kicked in. I very foolishly decided to continue the take off, even though I thought something was wrong.

As we barelled past the point where we should have lifted off, I was franticly trying to figure out what was wrong. Now we didn't have enough room to stop and had to continue. The mixture controll would have about 1/2" gap when pushed to full rich, and I thought the prop should too.

I lifted off and BARELY cleared the fence at the far end of the feild. I looked UP at some scrub oaks.
shocked.gif


Finaly, I pushed all the controlls foward just to try something, anything! The engine reved right up, and we started to climb.

That's the most scared I've ever been in an airplane, and the closest I've ever come to crashing.


The point of my long and somewhat embaressing story is,

If something is wrong on take off, ABORT!


Later, with several more flights under my belt (but never forgeting that first one) I was taking off with myself and four jumpers. Two of the jumpers weight added up to an extra body and almost certianly put us over grosse. I started the take off roll, and didn't get airborne at the point I useually did.

Just as I cut the throttle, the plane lifted off. I realized i had made a mistake, but I had no choice. I had to continue the abort. I held the flared attitude and landed again bouncing down the runway and applied full brakes to get my very heavy plane to a stop. I stoped about 50 ft from the ditch at the far end.

The second point of my long and somewhat embaressing story is,

Once you make a Go/Nogo decision about a take off (or landing roll) you MUST stick with it.

If I had tried to continue the take off after I cut the throttle, I wouldn't have cleared the power lines at the far end of the field.


Rember,

"Smart people learn from their mistakes, Really smart people learn from other people's mistakes."
 
The only aborted take off I had was on the departure flight for my long cross country solo. I thought I had closed both latches on the Warrior, but one popped loose at about 40kts on the runway. Chopped power before rotation and notified the tower. After that the flight was uneventful and beautiful.
 
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If something is wrong on take off, ABORT!



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Depends on the aircraft. I'd only consider (if I were PIC of course) aborting the takeoff over 80-100 knots in a transport category aircraft was if we had an engine failure or I knew the airplane wasn't going to fly.
 
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I aborted a take off in a Warrior after my landing light failed on the take off roll (at night time). Wasn't really a big deal, just kinda exciting when everything in front of you gets dark just before rotation.

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my last 4 landings at night have been without one..yeah it makes a little bit of a difference
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