Air carrier pilot reported during takeoff roll the RWSL lights illuminated for landing traffic on intersecting runway. Flight crew continued takeoff roll and departed.

Date: 2023-12 · Aircraft: A220-300 · Phase: takeoff

Anomalies: atc-issue-all-types|conflict-ground-conflict|critical|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

Air carrier pilot reported during takeoff roll the RWSL lights illuminated for landing traffic on intersecting runway. Flight crew continued takeoff roll and departed.

Narrative

Departing Runway XX in ZZZ on a busy VFR morning; we were instructed by Tower to line up and wait. Tower told us there was traffic on a 3 mile final for the intersecting Runway YYL. This triggered us to move promptly onto the runway. As we were still taxiing onto Runway XX; Tower again called the traffic out now on a 2 mile final; and then cleared us for takeoff. The A220 is slow to accelerate due to the procedure to wait until 20kts before applying takeoff power. We were accelerating through about 70 knots when the Pilot Flying (PF) First Officer (FO) noticed and verbalized that the RWSL red lights on Runway XX had just come on due to the traffic landing on Runway YYL. I was heads down watching the instruments. In the second it took me to look up and see what was happening; we were in the high speed regime and through 100 knots in the middle of the string of RWSL lights. V1 was 124 knots. I looked over my shoulder at the traffic about to land and estimated that it was at least 500 AGL. In my opinion; it was safer to continue accelerating through the intersection than to try to stop. We definitely would not have stopped before the intersection; and might have ended up stopped in the intersection. This would present the dual hazard of a high speed reject and being stopped on the landing runway with an aircraft on very short final. Being flustered and in the heat of the moment; I failed to call continue" but the PF did correctly continue the takeoff roll and uneventful takeoff. The Tower Controller switched us to departure without any comment."

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.