A large transport flight crew on takeoff roll; approaching V1; detects a small passenger jet incurri...

Narrative:

In detroit on runway 04R cleared for takeoff and assigned heading 360; at approximately five knots prior to rotate speed. I felt the yoke start back prior to my calling 'rotate.' I was comfortable based on the acceleration rate of the aircraft it would not be a problem. Simultaneously; tower called and told us to abort our takeoff. I was inside watching the engine instruments and calling out our speeds when the call from tower came in. I glanced up to see a [small jet] in another carrier's colors crossing the runway from right to left and approximately in the middle of the runway. I believe he was crossing Y12 to Z12. I called 'rotate' at rotate speed knowing the captain had already begun the rotation. I did not answer tower's call immediately nor did I relay the call to the captain and believe I might have replied 'unable' after we were safely airborne. I also knew; like the captain; that the tower call was wrong based on our speed; [distance] from the incursion aircraft of approximately 1;000 feet; and our acceleration rate. The aircraft was ready to fly. I fully believe if we had complied it would have been catastrophic. I believe we cleared the incursion aircraft by approximately 100 feet. I do not blame the tower for the call. She was doing what she thought was right based on a snap decision from a much different vantage point than ours. I never heard the incursion aircraft speak to tower and we were listening to all the calls. She was working both sides of the airport as we heard her clear an airport ops vehicle down runway 09R but hold short of 03L for landing traffic another company aircraft. I want to give kudos to the captain for using the HUD during the takeoff. He knew based on the HUD information that he was close to rotate speed without my callout. Great situational awareness. Detroit has multiple ground frequencies and that can be confusing even though at that time I believe the west ground controller was working both north and south ground like the tower controller was working both east and west. The addition of runway incursion lights like lax and san might help but in this case we would most likely have been past the last row of those lights when the incursion aircraft crossed our departure runway.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Large Transport flight crew on takeoff roll; approaching V1; detects a small passenger jet incurring ahead and a simultaneous command from the Tower to abort the takeoff. The Captain elects to continue at this point and clears the CRJ by less than 100 feet.

Narrative: In Detroit on Runway 04R cleared for takeoff and assigned heading 360; at approximately five knots prior to rotate speed. I felt the yoke start back prior to my calling 'rotate.' I was comfortable based on the acceleration rate of the aircraft it would not be a problem. Simultaneously; Tower called and told us to abort our takeoff. I was inside watching the engine instruments and calling out our speeds when the call from Tower came in. I glanced up to see a [small jet] in another carrier's colors crossing the runway from right to left and approximately in the middle of the runway. I believe he was crossing Y12 to Z12. I called 'rotate' at rotate speed knowing the Captain had already begun the rotation. I did not answer Tower's call immediately nor did I relay the call to the Captain and believe I might have replied 'unable' after we were safely airborne. I also knew; like the Captain; that the Tower call was wrong based on our speed; [distance] from the incursion aircraft of approximately 1;000 feet; and our acceleration rate. The aircraft was ready to fly. I fully believe if we had complied it would have been catastrophic. I believe we cleared the incursion aircraft by approximately 100 feet. I do not blame the Tower for the call. She was doing what she thought was right based on a snap decision from a much different vantage point than ours. I never heard the incursion aircraft speak to Tower and we were listening to all the calls. She was working both sides of the airport as we heard her clear an airport Ops vehicle down Runway 09R but hold short of 03L for landing traffic another Company aircraft. I want to give kudos to the Captain for using the HUD during the takeoff. He knew based on the HUD information that he was close to rotate speed without my callout. Great situational awareness. Detroit has multiple Ground frequencies and that can be confusing even though at that time I believe the West Ground Controller was working both North and South Ground like the Tower Controller was working both East and West. The addition of runway incursion lights like LAX and SAN might help but in this case we would most likely have been past the last row of those lights when the incursion aircraft crossed our departure runway.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1174573
Time
Date	201405
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	DTW.Airport
State Reference	MI
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 238 Flight Crew Type 9000
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 263
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Critical Deviation - Procedural Clearance Ground Incursion Runway

A large transport flight crew on takeoff roll; approaching V1; detects a small passenger jet incurring ahead and a simultaneous command from the tower to abort the takeoff. The captain elects to continue at this point and clears the crj by less than 100 feet.