A B737 captain rejected the takeoff because the flight controls did not respond normally. It was dis...

Narrative:

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.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: 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.

Narrative: 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.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1015020
Time
Date	201206
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	MCP
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 143
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

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.