A business jet accident and a serious incident involving a large commercial jet had in common the flight crews’ decisions to continue takeoffs after they suddenly became aware of non-normal circumstances, according to the final reports issued in early 2013 by accident investigation boards.1,2 In each case, the exact circumstances fell outside some generic lists of predominant risks and causal factors previously emphasized by safety specialists (see “Guidance on Rejected Takeoff Considerations”), such as U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) analysis of rejected takeoff (RTO) events.
“The infrequency of RTO events may lead to complacency about maintaining sharp decision making skills and procedural effectiveness,” the FAA Takeoff Safety Training Aid says. “In spite of the equipment reliability, every pilot must be prepared to make the correct go/no go decision on every takeoff — just in case.
“For optimum crew effectiveness, [pilots] should…
