Narrative:

On initial takeoff roll from the runway with takeoff power applied and prior to reaching 55 KTS; the aircraft suddenly drifted left of centerline. The captain called for and initiated abort. I witnessed full deflection of controls to the right and reverse on the right engine to correct for the drift however the aircraft continued to drift left until the left main tire ran off of the runway for a short distance. When aircraft slowed to a safe taxi speed the captain then steered the aircraft left into the grass and stopped shortly off of the runway. The captain then shut down and asked me to remove the passengers. The passengers where then taken back to the terminal. No passengers reported any injuries. Looking at the aircraft afterwards it looked to have no apparent damage. There is no weather reporting at the station. It appeared from the wind sock that the wind was from 340 degrees at 8 to 10 KTS with occasional gust of 15 KTS or greater.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A DHC-6-300 veered left at 55 KTS during takeoff for unknown reasons. The Captain rejected the takeoff and steered the aircraft off the runway into grass. The passengers were removed to the gate.

Narrative: On initial takeoff roll from the runway with takeoff power applied and prior to reaching 55 KTS; the aircraft suddenly drifted left of centerline. The Captain called for and initiated abort. I witnessed full deflection of controls to the right and reverse on the right engine to correct for the drift however the aircraft continued to drift left until the left main tire ran off of the runway for a short distance. When aircraft slowed to a safe taxi speed the Captain then steered the aircraft left into the grass and stopped shortly off of the runway. The Captain then shut down and asked me to remove the passengers. The passengers where then taken back to the terminal. No passengers reported any injuries. Looking at the aircraft afterwards it looked to have no apparent damage. There is no weather reporting at the station. It appeared from the wind sock that the wind was from 340 degrees at 8 to 10 KTS with occasional gust of 15 KTS or greater.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.