B737-300
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 143
Confusion; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff; Flight Crew Returned To Gate
Human Factors; Procedure
Completely normal events leading to takeoff. A couple of maintenance issues at the gate but never pressed for time. After the push; I accomplished the after start flow and did not note any abnormalities with the flight control check. Normal taxi out. Cleared for takeoff and I reached up and set our departure heading of 350. On the takeoff roll shortly after setting takeoff thrust; the Captain noted the flight controls were not responding normally and elected to reject the takeoff. As we were braking to a stop from approximately 80 knots; I noted on the scoreboard that Pitch and Roll were in CWS. After exiting the runway; we ran the QRH and computed our braking energy. After discussing what happened; we called Dispatch. Initially they told us to wait for the recommended cooling time and reattempt the takeoff. After about 15 minutes; we were told to return to the gate by Maintenance Control. I am unsure how CWS was activated. It was not on with the control check. The only explanation is that the CWS button was somehow inadvertently pressed on taxi.
A B737 Captain rejected the takeoff because the flight controls did not respond normally. It was discovered that Control Wheel Steering (CWS) had mistakenly been selected ON sometime during taxi.