Originally Posted by
OldLurker
Yes, in first world. I don't know Martinique. Is it the sort of murky place where a Big Man (political, military, airline, whatever) can shout "stop that plane!" – even for a frivolous reason such as, maybe, something left behind – and be obeyed without question down a hierarchy of frightened officials and up to the man in the tower, who can see that the aircraft is rolling and has a split second to decide whether to defy the Big Man's order at some risk to himself, or effectively to pass the buck to the pilots? So he calls "Stop" and the pilots stop. Whatever the outcome, the controller did what he was ordered to do and he won't be in trouble with the Big Man. Is that a plausible scenario?
Sounds believable.
I don't think I'd have carried out a high speed RTO just because ATC said "Stop!"
I've had two runway incursions on the t/o roll and ATC didn't notice; or didn't mention it. One was an Alpha Jet turning on for opposite direction take-off; pilot noticed L1011 @ 100kn+ and continued 180 and exited. It was at far end of runway and, so long as he didn't start his t/o roll wasn't a problem.
The other was Luton van crossing. I assessed that he was going to continue and so did we. If the tvat had turned onto the runway it would have been messy.