Aborted takeoff from Gorman-Green (57)

I flew to Rich and Gayle's annual fly-in/pancake breakfast today with Chel and Hayden. Their runway is a very nice 3,000 X 100 turf strip. The temperature was a relatively cool 75 with a 90-degree crosswind of 7-10 kts, which favored neither direction.

At time of takeoff, the weight and balance calculations I did in Foreflight had us at 1,871, with a max gross weight of 2,150 which put us at 279 below max gross. There are wires on the north end of the runway.

The soft-field takeoff procedure for my PA28-140 calls for 2 notches (25 degrees) of flaps.

Using all available runway, and setting power to full before starting our rollout, we reached rotation speed and I was not comfortable with our position in relation to the wires. I immediately aborted the takeoff and rolled to the north end of the runway.

With no obstacles at the south end of the runway, I elected to use a different takeoff method. The ground was firm, so I started my rollout with no flaps in an effort to build speed more quickly. I had Hayden apply 1 notch of flaps once we reached our rotation speed and we popped right up with plenty of runway to spare.

Could we have made it over the wires if I had not aborted? Possibly, but why take the chance? It is always a good decision to abort a takeoff you are not comfortable with. Just like it always a good idea to "go around" on a landing you are not comfortable with. Be safe, and live to fly another day!

Видео Aborted takeoff from Gorman-Green (57) канала Randy Broderick