2021-12 · NASA ASRS report 1865618
An air carrier crew reported a landing aircraft initiated a go around during their takeoff roll resulting in ATC instructing them to cancel takeoff clearance but they did not comply due to their high speed and critical phase of flight.
We were cleared for takeoff on Runway XXL. Upon receiving our takeoff clearance; we initiated takeoff. As our takeoff progressed; an aircraft on final (we're guessing he was maybe four miles out on final) told Tower they were going to need to go-around due to being too fast. At this point Tower responded to him and then told us 'Aircraft X cancel takeoff clearance'. By this point we were at approximately 105-110 knots. V1 was 124 knots. The Captain elected to continue the takeoff which we did. I completely agree with the Captain's decision to continue the takeoff as the reject would have increased risk to our aircraft considerably. I did not respond to Tower at this point as the Controller; and the radios; were saturated and we were in a critical phase of flight. Upon getting airborne he switched us to departure; and the rest of the departure and flight were uneventful.Not sure we could have done anything differently. I'm not sure what was on the Controller's scope; but telling an aircraft to cancel takeoff clearance that far into the takeoff phase could obviously cause some serious issues. Seems like a runway offset or vector to the aircraft on final would have been a better decision; but again not sure what his other obstacles were.
It was a busy day at ZZZ; as was expected with one runway and low ceilings and visibility. We were number one at the hold short for [Runway] XXL on our side; with one GA aircraft on the other side; with three aircraft on final. The Tower Controller seemed very hesitant to let aircraft takeoff in between arrivals. The GA aircraft was cleared into position; and took off after the first arrival. Tower then indicated to the second aircraft on final that we would be in position before he cleared the aircraft to land; however; after a several second delay following the next landing; it became obvious that we were not going into position; and he subsequently cleared the next arrival to land. After this aircraft landed we were cleared into position and hold. I taxied into position and noted that the next arrival was at 1;500 ft. on the TCAS; signaling to me that we had plenty of time. As the previous arrival cleared the runway we were cleared for takeoff; at which time we advanced power and began the takeoff roll expeditiously. At around 100 knots; I heard the aircraft on approach say that they were going around because they were too fast on the approach. We continued our roll; and Tower said 'Aircraft X cancel takeoff clearance.'By this time we were at 115 knots; with a V1 of 124. Dispatch had planned the flight with a braking action of 3 because of the wet runway. By the time the F/O (First Officer) and I confirmed what was said; we were a few knots shy of V1; at which time I elected to continue the takeoff. We continued the takeoff and climbed out; during which time Tower had given the aircraft behind us a climb and turn. When we were passing about 300 ft. on the climbout; Tower told an aircraft (I'm not sure if it was us or the aircraft on the go-around) to level at 1500 ft.; or one thousand feet above the airport. I asked the F/O to confirm the call sign; but due to frequency congestion; we could not verify who the call was for and we continued on the departure. We did not receive any TCAS advisories or warnings the entire time; and continued the departure uneventfully. ZZZ Tower did not say anything else to us and switched us to Departure as if nothing unusual had happened. Tower Controllers need to understand the high threat risk of rejecting a takeoff at high speeds; particularly on a wet runway. There was no need for us to reject the takeoff with plenty of spacing and a simple turn from the aircraft going around.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.