i was flying delta flight 1532 from LAS to DFW and due to the weight of the aircraft, we were holding for departure on the runway that was being used for arrivals. we had a ground hold for about an hour and a half, and then were cleared for take off. after an educated guess of about 2500ft, the take off was aborted. call buttons were going crazy looking for explanations!

reason being: once we were cleared for take off, as we were in the middle of our roll, atc had the captain abort due to a miscalculated gap between arriving aircrafts.

anyone else with some interesting stories???

Yes,

DL, LAX-ATL, 752, got to 60 knots and the pilot pulled the power back and slowed the plane down, as we coasted a short bit on the runway the pilot announced that at 70 miles per hour he had to abort the takeoff due to the cockpit door flying open! The second attempt at departure was an unqualified success.

This doesnt qualify for an aborted take-off but is still a good story. On final approach, pbi to lga on Song and about to touch down on 4 (just about over the Grand Central Parkway), I would say less then 100 feet from the ground, I was sitting over the wing when I heard an increase in power, saw the retraction of flaps and off we went on a missed approach. Soon thereafter one of the flight attendants got off the phone with the flight deck, approached an elderly passenger and asked if it was her husband that decided to go to the bathroom at the last minute!!! Apparently it is against FAA regs to land a plane with someone in the bathroom. Needless to say, I thought it was awesome as we throttled up power over the runway, made a few left hand turns, back down the hudson and back into the traffic pattern

Ooops, just saw the thread on missed approaches. sorry

I was on a Saudi Arabian 747-300 from JED to KUL in March 2000. After a 1-hour delay and a long taxi, the fully-loaded jumbo started its take-off roll at 3 am but after about 25-30 seconds it slowed right down and exited the runway. Back at the bay, the pilots went out to look at something underneath the right wing flaps area (must have been a jammed flap or something). Most of the pax were already asleep before the take off so they probably didn't realise anything except that the plane was still on the ground. I was probably the only one going like "what happened? did we just abort the takeoff? this must be serious".

After a further 1.5-hours of sitting in the plane (without any explanation from the crew) the catering crew came in and started to offload the meal carts and the cabin crew picked up their bags and just left!!! About 15 minutes later, somebody finally got on the intercom and said "change plane".

So we changed to another 747-300 and safely departed at about 5 am.

Yes, flying JAT from Tivat to Belgrade July 1979 on a DC-9.

Yup. Once in 1977. My flight from KIN to JFK was already 30 minutes late for unknown reasons. We taxied to the runway, powered up and began the takeoff roll. We accelerated for maybe 1500-2000 feet before decelerating and exiting the runway. The captain then announced that a light had come on, indicating an opened baggage door. After another 40 minutes delay, we took off for JFK. When we arrived in the New York City area, we were further delayed because of inclement weather in the area (we were forced to circle for about 45 minutes). One flight three sources of delay.

a couple, but only on Military sorties. Most recently a few weeks ago on a bird strike, where we had to full stop, brakes caught fire, plugs popped and we slide down- where I of course didn't have my jacket on and froze for an hour waiting on a crew bus.

Ciao, and Hook 'em Horns,
Capt-AWACS, Yankee AIr Pirate

Some time last year, I had an aborted take-off with in an EMB-145 with a #2 engine T/R disagree. A quick deferral of the #2 engine thrust reverser, and we were on our way again.

Jetdoctor

I was flying TWA, it was a L-1011, beautiful A/C! LGA-STL-PHX. The 1 engine was just serviced and we were cleared for Take off. We were I'de estimate 3/4 of the way to rotating and then I heard the engines power down. Then they roared as we were reverse-thrusting and slowing down. The pilot was aggressively using the brakes. We then turned around for another try. Of course it was sucessful, and on a side note, after landing in STL the whole cabin clapped.

-S.R.

A few years ago, from SAN-OAK on WN, we were at about what I would say was 100 knots when someone must have made the stop call, because we slammed on the brakes and stopped real fast. As we were exiting the runway, we were told by the pilots that they got a warning light that one of the cargo bay doors were still open. As soon as we got back to the gate, we found out that it was indeed closed, and that it was a false alarm, so we went back out and went on our way to OAK. Pretty fun, I must say, to all of a sudden slam on the brakes when you're not expecting it! I don't remember any more about it, though, It was 1994 on my way back from SLC from my grandfather's funeral, and I was only like 6-7 years old. I remember talking about it with my parents, and my dad remembers it, but I guess my mom (who's dad the funeral was for) had blocked the whole trip out in her grief, as she doesn't even remember the layover in SAN on the way back!

 

Once... just started the roll... annouciator indicated an asymetric spoiler situation. Indicator went on and off and on and off.. taxied around f/o visualy verified spoilers were down and flight resumed

Yes,
On a Spantax DC-10 at Las Palmas bound for Stockholm. They said they had some kind of indication problem and we went back to the gate. After about an hour delay we went away again without problems.

I was jumpseating on a CL604 test flight , the PF aborted t/o because of a "ground spoilers not armed" warning at about 80 kts. It's surprising how much braking power these little birds have.

On a Merpati flight from Denpasar to Surabaya. It was a Fokker 28, started take-off run but within about 30 secs i could hear the engines throttle back and we taxied to the gate. Pilot announced that they had engine problems. Flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on Garuda.

Air France 2568, 29 June 2003, A320; Pilot accelerated and after about 10 seconds on the take off roll he throttled down and pulled off the runway. He immediatley looped back and took off on the same runway, no stoping at all. It was explained but rapidly in french. No idea what happened. Any guesses?

Cheers,
DFWLandingPath

Yep, TWA MD83 at Miami and DLH B744 at Frankfurt. Also had quite some gp-arounds...

One time. On a TG A300, HKT-BKK. We were well into the take-off roll when the pilot slammed on the brakes. We taxied back up, waited for the brakes to coll and took off without further incident. Pilot explanation was "techincal difficulty". A/C was HS-TAA

One time: June 2001, CO B738 IAH-GUA (Guatemala City) after about 5 seconds on the take off roll pilot slammed on the brakes and taxied back up due to technical difficulty with a "radio system".
We stayed 1h and departed normally.

Twice...

First: LX Saab 2000 from HAJ to ZRH, don't really know how fast we were, but they stopped the plane and it seemed almost as if we had hit a wall... those brakes really do work. Anyhow, they announced a while later (shortly after we took off) that they had an error indicated on one of the engines but had been able to clarify that it was not a malfunction.

Second: UA Boeing B737-300 from EWR to ORD, after waiting about 50 minutes in the evening rush hour(s) to get to the runway the plane accelerated, but then stopped: weather radar wasn't working, and since there were some quite severe thunderstorms around EWR they didn't want to leave without it...

I was on a CP DC-10 at least 10 years ago, at YYZ. Taking off on 15L, we were going at quite a clip when the takeoff was aborted. I remember we used the whole runway to stop, but everyone on the plane acted as if nothing really happened, which surprised me.

It turns out the No.3 engine had a low oil pressure indication, and we got free hotdogs at the terminal while we got to watch the ground staff refuel the aircraft and the engineers changing the oil. Waited three hours, and flew off again.

The joys of travel aboard Trans World Airlines!

21 August, 1996

TWA

Flight 843

Milan, Malpensa to New York, JFK

Boeing 747-100

Star of Madrid

Departure- 10:40am
Arrival- 1:40pm


While being seated in the nose of the aircraft in the Trans World One cabin a loud noise began as soon as pushback commenced from the gate. As the taxi to the runway continued the noise began to include a tearing metal sound. Looking over at a passenger near to me, she smiled and the shook her head. We turned onto the runway and we commenced a take off roll only to come to a thunderous stop mid runway. A Flight Attendant came running by and I asked “What is going on”, she replied “We are going back to the remote parking area”. After a taxi to the remote parking area, the forward door was opened to allow mechanics and such to go upstairs to the cockpit. Next to the wings and around the forward landing gear were fire engines, airport police, and customs officials. At one point the Flight Attendants began a snack service on the ground for those of us in Trans World One. After about an hour or so, a Mechanic came downstairs and was overheard telling a Flight Attendant.. “This old boat is to old to fly”.... Needless to say we got to JFK.... That was the most nerve raking 9 hour flight of my life!


LHR001

Only two in a long time of flying. The first was in a Vickers Viscount. I took my seat, opened a magazine and started reading. Next thing I know, the FA (who I knew vaguely) tapped me on the shoulder and said "Are you going to stay here all day?" We had taxied out, had a tech problem, returned to the terminal and the passengers had disembarked. Because there was nobody sitting beside me, I hadn't even noticed. I can't remember what I was reading, but it must have been interesting!
The second time was on a 727 leaving Sydney. I had a hangover from a very big, bad night in New Guinea, and had made a tight connection in Sydney. We were halfway down the runway when all the brakes and reversers went on, and my stomach went into orbit. It was an oil warning light, and we had a delay of an hour. Still felt seedy when we finally departed, but with a few beers on the flight to Melbourne I was getting back to normal when we arrived. Of course, that was when I was young and stupid! Doesn't happen these days.  
Cheers
Bill

YES! incidently it was just the other day.

flying from NCL-ALC on G-EZYP B733. The pilot aborted about 10/15 seconds into the roll. After vacating the runway we were told it was due to birds flying close to the runway. a vehicle swept the runway for any signs of debris whilst we taxied back and commenced a sucessful take off.

About two years ago I was on Spanair flight (jkk) from DUB to AGP on a A-321.
We were cleared to take off so we started to roll, increasing speed and when we were about to take off the plane just started to reduce speed very quick and made a very quick and risky turn to the left of the runway and after that no explanation was given and after another 10 minutes we took off at last and arrived in Malaga safe (after a very bad flight with lots of turbulence).
Anyway, the main thing is that I arrived safe and that´s It, things like that happen.

Dani

Emirates at DXB, A330 A6-EAC to Manchester. Began our take off roll and a short time later the throttles were lowered and we taxied off the runway at a pretty fast rate and held on a taxiway whilst we were told of the problem (air conditioning warning light apparently - but isn't this the standard reason given in these situations?) Anyway we were put on a remote stand, engineers came onboard to sort the problem out, refueled and an hour later we were on our way to Manchester without further trouble.

Mark

On a HP PHX-BWI 757 we aborted about halfway down the runway due to a failed altimeter. At the time I thought it was pretty scary, since I obviously didn't know what was going on. Went back to the gate, maintence came on and fixed/replaced(?) the altimeter and we were on our way. Due to the delay the headsets for the IFE were free- since I carry my own it didn't matter to me, but still a nice gesture.

Scariest two i ever had in the 80's: -

Orion Airways A300 departing TFS in cloudy weather, throttled up for 2 secs.slammed the brakes on , and a charter 757 (forgot who) clearly flew over the top of us, and landed just ahead of us  

Another time , 737-300 departing Gibraltar , almost at V1 when a local cycled across the runway- a real throw the anchors out stop, as water at either end of the runway. eek  

Virgin A340-600

It was in May 2003 on a flight from LHR to JFK. Brand new plane. We got on the runway and began to roll down the runway -- and almost immediately, the brakes were applied. The captain then made an announcement that there was a 'minor' technical issue and he wanted to have VS engineers check it out. We went on the taxiway and parked parallel to the runway and waited for the plane to be checked out. I had a field day looking at planes take off and land out the window...but a few passengers looked a bit nervous. We got back on the runway after about 20 minutes and had an uneventful flight to JFK.

Not a large commercial aircraft but still nerve racking..

About 6 years ago a customer who came into my work offered to take me up in his Cessna from the airport next to my house, this plane was about 30-40 years old.

Anyway we were rolling down the runway and he actualy pulled back on the yoke only to say something like "shit" and put the plane back down on the runway and slamed on the brakes, we rolled out using every last piece of the small private airport's runway.

He said we had no air speed indicator, when we taxied back and got out he found that hornets (or bees?) had made a nest in the air speed indicator tube on the wing. He blew out the nest and commented that he forgot to cover the instrument after his last flight, we then took off and everything was fine.

DL 727-200 DFW-DEN February 14, 1997:After a long taxi to the runway we started the roll and got to about 50kts and started to slow down. Circuit breaker popped and we had to go back to the gate. As we approached the gate the Captain said C/B reset with no problems so we are going back again.
I thought ok this is 't so bad, then I noticed the line of AA birds we were now taxing behind. 55 minutes later we were airborne.

Sometime in the mid 1990's, I was on board a NW DC9 going to either HPN or LGA (can't remember which one) from MSP. The winds were blowing steadily at (this is a guess) 20 to 35 MPH. While waiting for takeoff clearance, I watched a NW Airlink SF340 come in flighting a crosswind and then going around. When it was our turn to take off, we revved up, went speeding down the runway, and about halfway down the runway, we started slowing down. I don't think it was a quick slowdown, just enough so we could slow down before the end of the runway. It turned out that ATC had switched the departing runway, so we taxied over to the new departing runway, got in a long queue and eventually departed uneventfully.

-Msh744

Anyway we were rolling down the runway and he actualy pulled back on the yoke only to say something like "shit" and put the plane back down on the runway and slamed on the brakes, we rolled out using every last piece of the small private airport's runway.

He said we had no air speed indicator,

And all the CFI's on the board cry "foul!".................

Geeze louise, not the smartest thing I've seen in awhile. You were quite lucky.

I orinially wrote this on another post. It is more appropriate for this thread.

1989 I was on an AA MD-80, DFW-ATL. We were cleared onto the runway for takeoff, but we did not begin rolling for some time. Engines were spooled up for takeoff, but it seemed like 30 seconds after spooling before we started the roll down the runway. Before V1 I heard the engines go to reverse thrust, spoilers up, and hard braking...aborted takeoff! Captain then announced we were going back to the gate as one of the turbofans was not producing enough thrust.

First and only time for me.

I was on an American MD80 going from ORD to YUL and about half way down
The pilot put on the breaks. He said that he did not like the way the engine was performing. It was a good thing because he took us to a remote part
of ORD and tested the engines one by one. He tested the left one first and
it was fine then the right one and it flamed out. We quickly went back to the terminal and changed planes. I wonder if we would have ended up in Lake Michigan if he had taken off.

PIA777

JBirdAV8r,

That is exactly was happened to me. Now that I remember that is what the Captain told us. This happened to me in June of 1999.

PIA777

Yes. It was on an AA MD80. On takeoff roll, going fairly fast, 1/2 way down the runway, a wicked vibration starts to kickup, like a flat tire or something.

We throttle back and pull off. The pilot announces that the front wheels on the MD80 sometimes get "cocked" and it sets off a left-right wobble (like a bad shopping cart). We did nothing but turn around, go back and take off without incident.

Anyone else hear about front gear getting "cocked"?

A couple of times; both within a week of each other; and both on ASA. One was a CRJ out of IAH and the other was an EMB120 out of AEX. The EMB120 was a high speed RTO which occured because a door panel became ajar.

Thursday 07 September 2000
Alitalia Flt AZ587 McDonnell-Douglas MD80 I-DAWF

We were flying Paris to Rome with Swissair via Zurich but we had missed our Swissair connection at Zurich due to 35min late departure from CDG so we were transferred to Alitalia.

Departure was at 1700 and after a rolling takeoff run, accompanied by a loud bang from the rear of the a/c as we swung onto the runway, the takeoff run was aborted after 500m.
The pilot announced that some "indicator lamp was showing" so we taxied back somewhere (to cool the brakes I suspect) and then finally took off at approx 1745.

Needless to say, being an Alitalia flight, the rosary beads and Hail Marys were out in force.

The flight continued without incident (and with some nice food and views of the alps from memory)to FCO where our daughter was awaiting us (having arrived from LHR with BA 3 hours before) and whose welcoming words were "Where have you been? I'm starving!". Aaah kids?!?!

PGF