Should I Take Off? It's Not a Simple Decision

A pilot has to decide on the runway not to take off, and reflects on how things differed when he worked for an airline.

Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 02:54 PM ET

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Les Abend was faced with the go-or-no-go decision on two very different occasions. [Screengrab from FLYING YouTube video]

Key Takeaways:

A pilot experienced erroneous airspeed indications during takeoff, opted to continue the flight by relying on groundspeed and experience, and returned safely for troubleshooting.
Initial attempts to fix a suspected pitot tube obstruction were unsuccessful; a subsequent test flight with no airspeed indications led to an early, planned abort, eventually revealing a cracked pitot-tube hose as the true culprit.
The incident underscores the complex "go or no-go" decision, comparing the general aviation experience with airline philosophy which often favors continuing flight for many malfunctions above 80 knots due to the inherent dangers of rejected takeoffs, and emphasizes making the decision proactively before the takeoff roll.

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I had myriad reasons why my Piper Arrow hadn’t slipped the surly bonds in weeks, so when the day’s weather transformed into a beautiful Florida clear-and-a-million sky, I had no excuses. The mission was uncomplicated. I’d fly to an airport only 15 minutes away, top off the tanks, and return home while practicing a GPS approach or two.

After a methodical engine run-up, and a “not-everybody-gets-to-do-this” grin on my face, I pushed the throttle forward on all 200 horses of the IO-360. A scan of the JPI and analog gauges indicated we were go for launch. As the runway lights and centerline markings started to blur with normal acceleration, I noticed that both the Aspen Avionics flight display and the analog airspeed were indicating 35 knots. Approximating the distance traveled on the 5,500-foot runway, I quickly realized that the airspeed should be higher. Ruh-roh.