Narrative:

Departing we were cleared for takeoff. I was the pilot flying and after we lined up on center line I spooled the engines to 40% N1 and released the brakes. After releasing the brakes I advanced the throttles and commanded 'set max power' per our south.O.P. The aircraft immediately veered for the right side of the runway. We rejected the takeoff and I attempted to use reverse thrust to correct back toward center line. The use of nose wheel steering and rudder pedal steering were totally ineffective. The nose of the aircraft corrected rapidly back to the left and I reversed 3 and 4 engines to correct back toward center line. Once again the nose corrected rapidly and I found myself having to use reverse on engines 1 and 2 to correct back. Reverse was the only directional control I had and the aircraft came to rest just off the left side of the runway approximately 1;800 ft from where we started. In hind sight I would have had the aircraft loaded to a more forward center of gravity in the hope of getting greater nose wheel effectiveness. I was loaded to the aft center of gravity limit and accepted it thinking I would get better fuel economy. I should have considered the field condition first. The taxiway condition was reported poor and runway fair due to snow and ice; I feel the runway surface was nil where I started my takeoff roll. With my adrenaline flowing I believe I used excessive reverse thrust to correct back to center line. There was an aircraft that attempted to takeoff ahead of us who aborted due to poor directional control problems at the start of his roll. That captain passed what he experienced to the tower but unfortunately it wasn't passed on to us.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A DC8 departed the runway after rejecting a takeoff when nose wheel steering would not allow the Captain to control the aircraft because an aft center of gravity removed weight on the nose wheels.

Narrative: Departing we were cleared for Takeoff. I was the pilot flying and after we lined up on center line I spooled the engines to 40% N1 and released the brakes. After releasing the brakes I advanced the throttles and commanded 'set Max power' per our S.O.P. The aircraft immediately veered for the right side of the runway. We rejected the takeoff and I attempted to use reverse thrust to correct back toward center line. The use of nose wheel steering and rudder pedal steering were totally ineffective. The nose of the aircraft corrected rapidly back to the left and I reversed 3 and 4 engines to correct back toward center line. Once again the nose corrected rapidly and I found myself having to use reverse on engines 1 and 2 to correct back. Reverse was the only directional control I had and the aircraft came to rest just off the left side of the runway approximately 1;800 FT from where we started. In hind sight I would have had the aircraft loaded to a more forward center of gravity in the hope of getting greater nose wheel effectiveness. I was loaded to the aft center of gravity limit and accepted it thinking I would get better fuel economy. I should have considered the field condition first. The taxiway condition was reported poor and runway fair due to snow and ice; I feel the runway surface was nil where I started my takeoff roll. With my adrenaline flowing I believe I used excessive reverse thrust to correct back to center line. There was an aircraft that attempted to takeoff ahead of us who aborted due to poor directional control problems at the start of his roll. That Captain passed what he experienced to the Tower but unfortunately it wasn't passed on to us.

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.