This is Devil’s Advocates stuff and I have never flown an Airbus, so what do others think? I have been accelerating down JNB's 12,500' runway on a modestly loaded B744 using reduced thrust take-off power, I became aware of the end of the R/W and advanced the throttles to max T/O power, we leapt into the air, I had felt uncomfortable and acted accordingly, once in the cruise we re-did our figures and we were correct, is was a matter of faith. Heavy weight take-offs were no strangers to me but I had been lulled in to a false sense of security by a 12,500' runway and with a failed APU, no ground cooling air available, an already delayed flight, a load sheet for another aircraft presented and subsequently corrected, not to mention a company VIP on board I was distracted so my reaction on the runway was 'animal' based on instinct.
What has happened to our training system whereby instinct and a knowledge of lights changing from white to red and then red etc. is suppressed by an overwhelming dependence on what the manufacturer says?