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 of his Piper Arrow but successfully continued the flight by relying on groundspeed and analog backups, later discovering a cracked pitot-tube hose was the true culprit.
The incident prompted a reflection on rejected takeoff (RTO) procedures, contrasting general aviation decision-making with airline philosophy, which prioritizes continuing flight unless specific critical failures occur below V1, based on extensive safety data.
The article underscores the importance of making the go/no-go decision prior to takeoff and having clear, pre-defined criteria for aborting, even when faced with ambiguous information.

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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.