B747-800 Advanced
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; Flight Crew Returned To Gate; Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff; General Maintenance Action; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed
Aircraft
I was the Pilot Flying.  We were cleared for takeoff on Runway XX and the Tower reported the winds at 190 degrees 19 knots.  We weighed roughly 441;100 kilos.  As the engines stabilized I pushed TOGA and the engines accelerated to takeoff thrust and moments later we heard a bang and the airplane began to veer off to the left.  I rejected the takeoff at around 40 knots.  We notified the Tower and he replied that they heard a loud bang from inside their Tower cab as well and suspected that it was a compressor stall.  We stopped the plane on the runway to assess the engines and brake temps.  We asked the Tower if they saw any flames or smoke coming from any of the engines and they said no.  All engine indications were normal and brakes and tires were good.  There were no EICAS messages.  We cleared the runway and elected to taxi back to the gate.  They cleared us to cross the approach end of runway XX and the First Officer looked for any FOD that may have come off of the plane but he saw no signs of FOD.  The First Officer did ask the Tower to inspect the runway for FOD just in case.  I taxied in with number 1&2 engines at idle.  We arrived at the gate shortly after and Maintenance was debriefed of the possible engine compressor stall.  We were unsure of which engine it was that compressor stalled.  Maintenance mentioned to me later that the number one engine was a suspect due to an engine change in ZZZ and a history of bleed malfunctions on number 1 and 2 engines.  I told the mechanics that by the way the plane reacted and veered to the left; I would suspect the #1 engine to be the culprit as well.  They agreed that the best thing to do was to return to the gate because the engine is not supposed to do this.  I have to commend all of my crew on the professionalism that they showed and working together as a whole crew.  I suggest that the training department keeps giving scenarios to reject a takeoff for in the simulator.  This event was trained for and I couldn't have asked for a better crew.
This is the same airplane that we rejected the takeoff for the day prior for the same problem- compressor stall. The aircraft had an engine change (#1 engine) in ZZZ 2 legs prior to our events. After we rejected our takeoff yesterday; Maintenance borescoped number one and number 2 engines. No defects were found. Approximately 30 hours were spent working on the plane. Maintenance did a high power engine run prior to signing it off and returning it back to service. I was Pilot Monitoring this time and the First Officer performed the takeoff. Our takeoff weight was 435.7 tons. There was a Low level wind shear advisory in effect at the time of our takeoff. The flight deck performance generated a max thrust (96.7 N1) flaps 20 takeoff. The Tower winds were light and variable reported 230 @ 4 kts. We were cleared for takeoff with the winds light and variable. Once the engines were stabilized at 45% N1 and we were rolling; I pushed the TOGA switches and the thrust levers advanced the thrust up to takeoff thrust. During engine acceleration and us only doing approximately 20-30 knots; we all heard 2 loud bangs and simultaneously saw a bright flash of light on the left side of the plane. I decided to reject the takeoff again. I gained control of the aircraft and brought the plane to a stop on the runway. We advised the tower and they also heard the loud bang from up in the tower cab. The Airport Operations guy was at the passenger terminal a couple miles away and he heard the loud bang and immediately made his way over to us. There was no smoke or fire coming from any of the number 1 or 2 engines. We assessed the condition of the engines and determined all engine parameters were normal so we elected to leave number 1&2 engines running at idle power. There were no EICAS messages. All of the tires were intact with normal tire pressures indication and the brake temps were normal. As we exited the runway and taxied back to the gate; the ops vehicle did a runway inspection for FOD and did not find anything. We debriefed Maintenance upon arrival back at the gate.
B747 Captain reported a compressor stall on takeoff power application; causing a rejected takeoff and a return to gate for maintenance.