2022-07 · NASA ASRS report 1919526
B737-700 Captain and First Officer reported a rejected takeoff due to the inability to keep the aircraft on the center line. The crew was unclear if this was a mechanical failure or pilot error.
Normal taxi out. After getting take-off clearance; we lined up on the runway once cleared for take-off. I was lined up slightly off center of the runway and the tiller was neutralized. I felt confident in my ability to get repositioned perfectly on centerline. I held the brakes for the noise abatement take-off procedure. I applied power to 83% N1; then released the brakes as I simultaneously added the required take-off power. The aircraft swerved to the right then to the left so I rejected the take-off. Since we just barely started the take-off roll; it was a benign event. The airspeed was approximately 48 knots and the N1's were spooling up just beyond 50%. I safely brought the aircraft to a stop. We notified Tower and were given taxi instructions to exit the runways to the right onto taxiway Juliet. No emergency was declared and no assistance was needed. We discussed which/if there was a Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) or checklist to run. We ran an After Landing Flow. Once on the taxiway; we analyzed the occurrence. The Pilot of the aircraft behind us reported there was smoke coming from our nose tire and it was angled. With that information; I decided it was unsafe to fly without an inspection. I called Dispatch and Maintenance Control while the First Officer (F/O) coordinated with ZZZ Ops to get a gate to return to. I made a PA to the passengers and talked to the Flight Attendants. A logbook entry was made stating the aircraft steering was unresponsive during the takeoff roll and returned to normal with the throttles retarded. We returned safely to the gate. I debriefed with both my F/O and the FAs. There were no injuries.I should have taken the few feet of runway in order to ensure the nose wheel was straight instead of relying on the physical neutral location of the tiller. Because it was a low speed benign event; I failed to follow all procedures of a rejected takeoff. This includes the announcement over the PA for passengers to remain seated and to run brake cooling data.
We had a normal taxi out. After getting take-off clearance; we lined up on the runway once cleared for takeoff. The Captain was performing the take-off per the noise abatement procedure. The Captain applied power to 83% N1; then released the brakes while simultaneously adding the required take-off power. The aircraft swerved to the right then to the left; so the Captain rejected the take-off. Since we just barely started the take-off roll; it was a benign event. The airspeed was approximately 45 knots and the N1's spooled up to maybe 50%. The Captain safely brought the aircraft to a stop. I notified Tower of the rejected take-off and we were given taxi instructions to exit the runways to the right onto taxiway Juliet. No emergency was declared and no assistance was needed. We discussed which/if there was a Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) or checklist to run. We ran an After Landing Flow. Once on the taxiway; we analyzed the occurrence. The Pilot of the aircraft behind us reported there was smoke coming from our nose tire and it was sideways during the take-off. With that information; we decided it was unsafe to fly without an inspection. The Captain called Dispatch and Maintenance Control while I coordinated with ZZZ Ops to get a gate to return to. The Captain made a PA to the Passengers and talked to the Flight Attendants. I began to run the brake cooling procedure; but was then distracted by ATC; and never completed the required task. We returned safely to the gate. The aircraft was taken out of service. After speaking with the Flight Attendants; they said nothing seemed abnormal in the back and the Passengers hadn't even noticed anything out of the ordinary. We failed to comply with the full rejected takeoff procedures by not running brake cooling. Even though it was a very slow speed reject the procedure still needs to be accomplished in its entirety.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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