Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors; Manuals; Procedure
Day two; leg four of eight in two days. Pushed onto taxiway; started; after start procedures all done; called for taxi; and I didn't call for Flaps five. My normal plan; on almost every other after start is to state; 'clear left; clear right; Flaps X'; but for some reason in this situation I didn't. No excuse; no reason; I just didn't. Taxi commenced; FO (First Officer) made the PA for seating the FAs (Flight Attendants); then my attention was possibly momentarily switched to the [aircraft] that had just landed and turned onto our taxiway in front of us; but just for a second or two. The only other distraction was when Ground called shortly thereafter and told us about a flow time back to ZZZ1. He mentioned we might get off earlier than the estimate which would only amount to a three minute wait at the end of the runway; still not anything big; but somewhere in there where I would've normally called for the 'before takeoff check'; I didn't. When we got down nearer the hold short area; I called back to Ground to ask if they wanted us out of the way for departures; short discussion; said we were fine there for the three minutes wait time. Minor distraction; we were still feeling all done; ready to go and once cleared for takeoff; yes; of course the next noise I hear is the takeoff warning horn for the flaps still being up. The only good thing I did from the after start to the five-knot abort was to abort the takeoff; clear the runway; do the circle of shame back to the takeoff position; set the flaps; and actually perform and complete the before takeoff check. My other normal procedure is to do the configuration check as I am calling for the before takeoff check. So; yes; I didn't get the configuration check either; not because I blew it off; just because I never called for the before takeoff check.In debriefing the incident with the FO; who; by the way was rock solid the whole last two days; mentioned to me that when he heard the horn; he couldn't believe; in his mind; that the flaps were still up; and in hindsight neither could I. BOTH of us thought we were all good; everything was normal; all systems go. Uneventful departure thereafter; a good debrief on how dumb the Captain was; humility check complete. I think this is once again; an example of sequential thought. When my mind was 'slightly' distracted with the flow time; that's when we would normally be accomplishing the takeoff check. Once we were past that point where I would normally do that; there's nothing to remind me to say 'Hey; you're forgetting something' until the horn chimes in. Lesson learned is habit patterns and checklists are good; not so good if I don't perform them; in order; when the flight calls for them. I'm personally going back to my old habit of doing a configuration check whenever I enter the runway. Yes; it might be redundant; but if I miss the primary; maybe my space limited brain will pick it up on the backup.
An Airline Captain reported that the aircraft was not configured and had to abort takeoff.