Narrative:

Prior to launching everything checked out fine and the taxi and runup were normal; so I proceeded to depart. After holding the brakes and bringing up the power; I let the airplane begin to roll; and once again all seemed normal. The airplane began to accelerate (at the rate I expected with the passengers on board) and at rotation speed (maybe 1 or 2 KTS before) I began to pull back on the yoke.it was then I noticed the airplane appeared a little more sluggish than usual in lifting off. The nose came up no problem; but not the mains. I thought that the performance was a bit off; but as I gained a little more speed I pulled back a little further and the wheels broke ground; but I couldn't seem to climb out of ground effect. At that point I made the split decision to abort as the climb just wasn't there and I knew I only had a little less than 1;000 ft of runway remaining. I pulled the power and hit the brakes; although; I didn't want to push the brakes too hard because I didn't want to blow a tire or skid; which prevented a more rapid deceleration. Then; as the airplane began to decelerate a little more; I started pulling back on the yoke for aerodynamic braking and pushed the brakes a little harder. Unfortunately; the airplane just wasn't slowing down fast enough and I knew I was going to roll off the end. So I maneuvered to not hit anything past the threshold; continued braking; and maintained control as the airplane slowly rolled off the end. Luckily; the plane stopped within just a few feet. We got out; checked everything (which seemed fine); and pushed it back on to the asphalt. Once back on hard ground we taxied to parking and did a closer inspection which confirmed no damage. And; a check of ourselves revealed no injuries.when thinking about cause I knew it wasn't an overweight issue as I was under maximum gross. Tire pressure also looked normal and the wind was from the right-front (330 at 06g14; cross-headwind); so those weren't the issue. I thought then about weight and balance. I had flown many times with my dad and brother so I had done the weight and balance calculations several times before and we were always within the limits regardless of seating configuration so based on prior experience I didn't do a specific calculation. I then decided to do them and realized I had the cg a couple of inches aft of the limits. After doing the numbers I saw I could have my passengers swap spots bringing the cg a couple of inches ahead of the aft limits (even though the two were only 40 pounds different in weight). This worked well as on the second attempt we again had normal acceleration and this time normal climb performance. I think another contributing issue was not using about 50 ft of the runway when starting the takeoff. The taxiway joins the runway about 50 ft ahead of the threshold and I didn't back-taxi to the stripes; thus reducing my available distance. I had calculated a 1;900 ft takeoff roll; so I didn't think that would be an issue with the 3;000 ft runway. I realize now; though that the 50 ft could have been useful. From all of this I realized the importance of doing all performance calculations every time even if you think you're within limits. I also learned it's not necessarily a good idea to leave any usable runway behind; even if there is plenty available ahead. I think also I could have braked a little harder without skidding or blowing a tire; and I probably could have waited for a few more knots before rotating initially. Finally; I think I should have made the decision to abort the takeoff as soon as I first realized the initial rotation didn't seem right; rather than waiting until I couldn't climb out of ground effect.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA28-160 pilot with two adult passengers aboard aborted their takeoff when the airplane would not climb out of ground effect. The subsequent landing roll slightly exceeded the available runway length.

Narrative: Prior to launching everything checked out fine and the taxi and runup were normal; so I proceeded to depart. After holding the brakes and bringing up the power; I let the airplane begin to roll; and once again all seemed normal. The airplane began to accelerate (at the rate I expected with the passengers on board) and at rotation speed (maybe 1 or 2 KTS before) I began to pull back on the yoke.It was then I noticed the airplane appeared a little more sluggish than usual in lifting off. The nose came up no problem; but not the mains. I thought that the performance was a bit off; but as I gained a little more speed I pulled back a little further and the wheels broke ground; but I couldn't seem to climb out of ground effect. At that point I made the split decision to abort as the climb just wasn't there and I knew I only had a little less than 1;000 FT of runway remaining. I pulled the power and hit the brakes; although; I didn't want to push the brakes too hard because I didn't want to blow a tire or skid; which prevented a more rapid deceleration. Then; as the airplane began to decelerate a little more; I started pulling back on the yoke for aerodynamic braking and pushed the brakes a little harder. Unfortunately; the airplane just wasn't slowing down fast enough and I knew I was going to roll off the end. So I maneuvered to not hit anything past the threshold; continued braking; and maintained control as the airplane slowly rolled off the end. Luckily; the plane stopped within just a few feet. We got out; checked everything (which seemed fine); and pushed it back on to the asphalt. Once back on hard ground we taxied to parking and did a closer inspection which confirmed no damage. And; a check of ourselves revealed no injuries.When thinking about cause I knew it wasn't an overweight issue as I was under maximum gross. Tire pressure also looked normal and the wind was from the right-front (330 at 06G14; cross-headwind); so those weren't the issue. I thought then about weight and balance. I had flown many times with my dad and brother so I had done the weight and balance calculations several times before and we were always within the limits regardless of seating configuration so based on prior experience I didn't do a specific calculation. I then decided to do them and realized I had the CG a couple of inches aft of the limits. After doing the numbers I saw I could have my passengers swap spots bringing the CG a couple of inches ahead of the aft limits (even though the two were only 40 LBS different in weight). This worked well as on the second attempt we again had normal acceleration and this time normal climb performance. I think another contributing issue was not using about 50 FT of the runway when starting the takeoff. The taxiway joins the runway about 50 FT ahead of the threshold and I didn't back-taxi to the stripes; thus reducing my available distance. I had calculated a 1;900 FT takeoff roll; so I didn't think that would be an issue with the 3;000 FT runway. I realize now; though that the 50 FT could have been useful. From all of this I realized the importance of doing all performance calculations every time even if you think you're within limits. I also learned it's not necessarily a good idea to leave any usable runway behind; even if there is plenty available ahead. I think also I could have braked a little harder without skidding or blowing a tire; and I probably could have waited for a few more knots before rotating initially. Finally; I think I should have made the decision to abort the takeoff as soon as I first realized the initial rotation didn't seem right; rather than waiting until I couldn't climb out of ground effect.

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.