Pilot departing a non-towered airport reported during takeoff roll they saw a golf cart driving on the runway and decided to rotate early to avoid hitting the cart.
Synopsis
Pilot departing a non-towered airport reported during takeoff roll they saw a golf cart driving on the runway and decided to rotate early to avoid hitting the cart.
Narrative
Runway Incursion Incident at ZZZ at XB30. Arrived ZZZ at XA40. Removed aircraft from hangar and proceeded to fuel pumps. Topped off both inner tanks of Aircraft X; A Piper PA46 Malibu based at ZZZ. A flight plan was filed to ZZZ2 from ZZZ1. ZZZ1 was selected so that the clearance could be picked up by ZZZ Approach; rather than ZZZ1 TRACON. ATIS reported wind at 190 and 4 knots. After fueling; I selected runway XX for departure. I taxied to the Runway XX threshold and performed a full checklist. This took perhaps 2 minutes. I turned on strobes as well as taxi lighting. These are high intensity wingtip forward lamps. This is done due to the high volume of westbound traffic heading to ZZZ3 and many of them using ZZZZZ intersection at 6;000 ft. After checklisting; I announced my departure on runway XX on the Unicom frequency and after looking carefully for approaching traffic in both directions; proceeded to enter the runway. The time is exactly XB13. The sun is up; but the sun is very low in the east and pretty much right in my face.After a slight overshoot of the centerline on the turn; I aligned on the centerline and applied takeoff power. After about perhaps about 1;000 feet of takeoff roll I spotted a dark shape on the left part of the runway. The sun is directly in front of me. It was a very small shape. Actually looked like groundwater at first. In the next second or two; I interpreted it in my mind as a small animal; perhaps a coyote. Then it became clearer that it was a golf cart with a person in it driving westbound on the runway to the left/north of the centerline. The bright green safety vest was the most visible aspect. My choice was to abort the takeoff and possibly strike the golf cart or rotate the plane immediately. The plane was far under gross weight and I had accelerated to 68 knots; so I decided to rotate the aircraft. As I passed over the golf cart at perhaps by 10-20 feet; the Golf cart steered off of the runway to the north and into the grass. I observed a person wearing the bright green safety vest. After cleaning up the plane (wheels; flaps; power); I texted two people to contact the airport and notify them of the runway incursion incident.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.