Quote..."While accelerating towards take-off speed, the captain realised that the aeroplane was not aligned with the runway centreline. He steered the aeroplane back onto the runway centreline and continued with the take-off. The pilots did not report the incident to air traffic control at the time"
I just love that part.....surprising that both pilots did not realize the obvious,(I presume they had a relief)in the Jumpseat .....that makes 3......one has to wonder where yr attention actually is.....
Many years ago,based in Anchorage,I personally watched an Air China cargo job,747..... Take off on the north taxi way,demolishing most of the taxi lights,etc.......whilst the tower controller barked at them for several minutes about their position,and to reject the takeoff.....which the did not.......the crew,repeating several times .....cleared for takeoff!!!!..... As hilarious as it was,because it was like watching a guy Fawkes display for several minutes,much to the applause of holding aircraft......it was an awesome display.......my point,there were 4 crew members in that cockpit.......not one of them realized they had lined up on the taxiway.........it begs the question,where were they???? ,how does this happen???......hard to understand at any level,as this particular exercise requires everyone to be onboard and alert......personally,I have made taxi errors,....but not being able to "line up and wait,"on the correct rwy,in the correct position is not one of them...