These training aids emphasize the need to adhere to the V1 decision-making concept and highlight the inevitability of an overrun if a rejected take-off is initiated after V1. In its discussion of rejected take-off situations, the Takeoff Safety Training Aid states that a take-off should not be rejected once the aircraft has passed V1 unless the pilot has reason to conclude that the airplane is unsafe to fly. As well, the study concluded that in most overrun accidents, the pilots, using visual cues, did not accurately assess the amount of runway remaining or the aircraft's ability to stop.
He also believed that he would have some time after the 164-knot V1 call to make a reject decision. FDR/CVR analysis indicated that the loud bang occurred 2.2 seconds after the V1 call. The captain called the reject 1.3 seconds later. His first action to reject the take-off, retarding the power levers, occurred at 4.3 seconds after the V1 call and as the aircraft was accelerating through 172 knots. The auto-brake system activated 6.1 seconds after V1 as the result of the second officer manually deploying the spoilers. The thrust reversers were selected 3.5 seconds after the power levers were retarded, and the reverse levers were pulled into reverse 11.1 seconds after the V1 call.
The captain's decision to reject was based on the fact that he did not recognize the initial sound and subsequent thumping noises, and that, because he thought the bang could have been a bomb, he had concerns about the integrity of the aircraft and its ability to fly. Also, the captain stated that, based on the rejected take-off provisions in the DC-10 Flight Manual and on a fatal DC8 accident that he had witnessed, he had developed a mental rule to not take an aircraft into the air if he suspected that there was aircraft structural failure.
And that last statement SSG, is exactly what you are trying to do to people.
Mutt