Flight Safety -
Agreed about the effectiveness of the rudder at 119 kts but the abort didn't start until after departing the runway. With takeoff power set the a/c would have been accelerating up to, or even after, departing the runway. So more important is what was the speed of the a/c at the time it started to swing to the left? That's the ability of the rudder to provide crosswind control.
Another factor to consider, were the nosewheels providing traction or were they overloaded by slip angle? All on our crosswind takeoffs are done with balanced traction and the tracking stability provided by the nose wheel traction forward of the C.G. Imagine doing a crosswing takeoff and at a unknown speed losing nosewheel traction (ie, like the sim 'icy runway' traction)? That would drastically reduce the a/c's crosswind limits.
Interesting investigation.
Last edited by misd-agin; 9th Jan 2009 at 14:44.
Reason: incomplete sentence