Narrative:

We were given taxi clearance to runway 23L; D1 via D. We taxi to the runway and held short. Tower then cleared us to 'lineup and wait'; runway 23L; traffic aircraft 6 mile final. The first officer acknowledged and we taxied into position and accomplished the 'below the line 'items. Terrain was selected on my nd. The first officer elected to use wxr and when he selected wxr it came up in test mode and a loud aural 'monitor wxr radar display' came over the loud speakers. He deselected wxr and reselected wxr. At the same time the control tower cleared; what we both understood; for takeoff runway 23L; fly runway heading.' the first officer acknowledged 'cleared for takeoff runway 23L; fly runway heading; air carrier X.' another aircraft on runway 23R asked to verify take off clearance. I had advanced the power levers to 70% N1 and heard the confusion on frequency; and immediately brought the power levers to idle and discontinued the takeoff roll. The jet never reached T/O power; the thrust tile was never pushed and transfer of control was never made to the first officer. The aircraft rolled approximately 100 ft to the southern edge of D2 intersection and I stopped the airplane. The first officer then queried the tower on whether we were cleared for takeoff. The tower controller responded no; air carrier X; remain in position and then cleared the aircraft on runway 23R for takeoff. Since I was concerned about being too far forward of taxiway D2 and unable to make the turn and concerned about valid takeoff data and the aircraft on short final; I elected to taxi forward and exit the runway at D3. We then taxied back to runway 23L; reran the takeoff data and performed another before takeoff checklist. The other aircraft landed and then we were given clearance for takeoff 23L. During climb out indy center asked us to contact indy regional office and gave us the phone number. When we got to our destination I called the supervisor and he asked me what my recollection was back in indianapolis. I discussed it with him as I revealed in the above text and he told me that they had a tower controller in training and that when they originally issued to take off clearance the tower controller used the other aircraft call sign but used runway 23L; fly runway heading in the clearance. He also said that they heard our read back but the very beginning was blocked out by the other aircraft keying their mike; but that they distinctly heard our readback as fly runway heading runway 23L air carrier X. But that that controller failed to recognize the error. He said that several human factors were involved and that he wasn't pursuing it any further and that we could all learn from it and proceed forward.I believe several factors contributed to this scenario. First; when we were initially cleared to line up and wait; there was expectation bias that we were going to be given a timely take off clearance due to the aircraft on short final. Second; the aural warning 'monitor wxr radar display' provided enough of a distraction during a critical time when the controller was issuing the takeoff clearance and we believe it obscured the initial call sign of the takeoff clearance. Also; when the controller used runway 23L in the takeoff clearance we both believed and understood that the clearance was for us. When we read back the clearance with our callsign the tower controller did not recognize the error and it was the other aircraft that questioned the clearance that broke the chain of events.several human factors played into this scenario and we believe the other aircraft was the one that broke the chain of events and that we recognized that something wasn't right when he questioned the takeoff clearance and discontinued the takeoff till the matter was resolved.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B767-300 flight crew reported a slow speed rejected takeoff due to miscommunication with ATC at IND airport.

Narrative: We were given taxi clearance to RWY 23L; D1 via D. We taxi to the runway and held short. Tower then cleared us to 'lineup and wait'; RWY 23L; traffic aircraft 6 mile final. The FO acknowledged and we taxied into position and accomplished the 'below the line 'items. Terrain was selected on my ND. The FO elected to use WXR and when he selected WXR it came up in test mode and a loud aural 'monitor WXR radar display' came over the loud speakers. He deselected WXR and reselected WXR. At the same time the control tower cleared; what we both understood; for takeoff RWY 23L; Fly RWY heading.' The FO acknowledged 'cleared for takeoff runway 23L; Fly runway heading; Air Carrier X.' Another aircraft on runway 23R asked to verify take off clearance. I had advanced the power levers to 70% N1 and heard the confusion on frequency; and immediately brought the power levers to idle and discontinued the takeoff roll. The jet never reached T/O power; the thrust tile was never pushed and transfer of control was never made to the FO. The aircraft rolled approximately 100 ft to the southern edge of D2 intersection and I stopped the airplane. The FO then queried the tower on whether we were cleared for takeoff. The tower controller responded no; Air Carrier X; remain in position and then cleared the aircraft on RWY 23R for takeoff. Since I was concerned about being too far forward of taxiway D2 and unable to make the turn and concerned about valid takeoff data and the aircraft on short final; I elected to taxi forward and exit the runway at D3. We then taxied back to RWY 23L; reran the takeoff data and performed another before takeoff checklist. The other aircraft landed and then we were given clearance for takeoff 23L. During climb out INDY center asked us to contact INDY regional office and gave us the phone number. When we got to our destination I called the supervisor and he asked me what my recollection was back in Indianapolis. I discussed it with him as I revealed in the above text and he told me that they had a tower controller in training and that when they originally issued to take off clearance the tower controller used the other aircraft call sign but used RWY 23L; fly runway heading in the clearance. He also said that they heard our read back but the very beginning was blocked out by the other aircraft keying their mike; but that they distinctly heard our readback as fly runway heading runway 23L Air Carrier X. But that that controller failed to recognize the error. He said that several human factors were involved and that he wasn't pursuing it any further and that we could all learn from it and proceed forward.I believe several factors contributed to this scenario. First; when we were initially cleared to line up and wait; there was expectation bias that we were going to be given a timely take off clearance due to the aircraft on short final. Second; the aural warning 'Monitor WXR radar display' provided enough of a distraction during a critical time when the controller was issuing the takeoff clearance and we believe it obscured the initial call sign of the takeoff clearance. Also; when the controller used RWY 23L in the takeoff clearance we both believed and understood that the clearance was for us. When we read back the clearance with our callsign the tower controller did not recognize the error and it was the other aircraft that questioned the clearance that broke the chain of events.Several human factors played into this scenario and we believe the other aircraft was the one that broke the chain of events and that we recognized that something wasn't right when he questioned the takeoff clearance and discontinued the takeoff till the matter was resolved.

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.