A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff
Weather; Human Factors
When cleared for takeoff the winds were reported as 320/11. Some hard packed snow was on the taxiway. I taxied onto the runway with a left turn; with right engine power advanced to approximately 30% for the turn; intending to make a rolling takeoff. I brought the left engine even with the right in the turn as the plane approached the centerline. I released the tiller and transitioned to rudder steering; pushing on the right rudder pedal to stop the turn and finish lining up with the centerline. Application of right rudder did not stop the turn; so I returned to the tiller and commanded a right turn. No further application of throttles; which were still at what I estimate as 30%. The plane responded slowly to the commanded right turn at first; but then turned right and went through the centerline; in spite of a commanded correction with the tiller. Again the plane responded slowly and when it turned left it again continued left through the centerline despite a tiller command to align with the centerline. I then straightened the airplane. I decided that since we had used several hundred feet of runway on a flex takeoff calculation it would be prudent to return to the departure end of the runway for the takeoff; as long as the steering was functioning normally. Turning off the runway at a slow speed; and taxiing back to the end; the tiller reacted normally as did the rudder pedals. I concluded that some combination of power; crosswind; speed; and use of the tiller had caused the swerving; and that rudder and tiller and nose wheel were functioning normally. We returned to the end of the runway; lined up and advanced the power. The tiller and rudders continued to act as expected and we executed a normal takeoff. During the initial attempt at takeoff I never commanded additional power (as in 50%); and it did not seem like we exceeded a fast taxi speed. The airplane did not respond as I had expected it to. Some combination of wind; power; speed; (hard packed snow?); and tiller usage caused the airplane to react slowly at first to a commanded turn; then beyond the commanded position until I corrected it. My intention was not to use differential power turning onto a runway; keep the speed very low until the airplane was lined up with centerline and the tiller was not in use before adding power beyond the minimum required to taxi onto the runway.
A320 pilot reported a rejected takeoff after failing to line up with the centerline during a rolling takeoff.