Narrative:

We were departing [the] airport with passengers at night. The airport was undergoing major runway and taxiway construction and the departing runway had been shortened. As we were taxiing we noted that the taxiway and runway markings were faded and in need of paint. Before reaching the hold short line; we were cleared for immediate takeoff. We completed the before takeoff final items checklist and followed the yellow taxi line onto the runway. Because of the shortened runway; however; I made a slight left turn to use all available runway and planned a static takeoff. As I turned to line up; the pilot monitoring turned on the landing lights. The sight picture was that of a solid white line and what we both believed to be runway centerline lighting directly ahead. Because of the shortened runway; the painted runway identifier was behind us and therefore couldn't be used for guidance. I verified the correct heading for the runway on the HSI and advanced the thrust levers while holding the brakes and asked the pilot monitoring to set takeoff power. After the pm announced takeoff power set; I released the brakes and began the takeoff roll. We noted several small bumps as we began our takeoff roll that we attributed to either what we believed were the center line lights or bumps in the runway surface. After about the 3rd bump the pm called for an abort and mentioned that he believed we had blown a tire. We brought the aircraft to a stop on the runway and notified the tower that we believed we had blown a tire. It was after we came to a stop and begin to assess the situation we became aware the runway centerline was a faded line to our left and that the line we believed to be the center line was actually a runway edge line. The tower controller told us to hold our position on the runway and notified the FBO that we would need a tug. When the tug arrived I exited the aircraft to install the gear pins and saw that we had blown both right main tires. I noted that the runway edge lights were small and extended only a few inches above the ground. While being towed back to the ramp we observed that the line I mistook for the runway center line was a wide line that extended all the way across the taxiway rather than stopping at the edge of the wide intersection that we had used to access the runway. We notified the company about what had happened and made a phone call to the tower.we were at an unfamiliar airport at night that was undergoing construction and had faded markings. Although we reviewed the airport diagram prior to taxi neither of us noticed that the runway did not have centerline lighting installed. Upon lining up for departure we both saw a sight picture that looked normal for a night takeoff even with the extra time spend doing the static run up before releasing the brakes. My most critical mistake was that I mistook the nonstandard white line across the taxi way for the runway center line. In addition; the brightness of the edge lights that we mistook for center line lights and limited vision at night obscured the fact that it was a solid line instead of a segmented line.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BAE-125-850XP Captain reported both right main tires were damaged when a night takeoff was attempted mistakenly using the runway edge light as the runway centerline.

Narrative: We were departing [the] airport with passengers at night. The airport was undergoing major runway and taxiway construction and the departing runway had been shortened. As we were taxiing we noted that the taxiway and runway markings were faded and in need of paint. Before reaching the hold short line; we were cleared for immediate takeoff. We completed the Before Takeoff Final items checklist and followed the yellow taxi line onto the runway. Because of the shortened RWY; however; I made a slight left turn to use all available runway and planned a static takeoff. As I turned to line up; the pilot monitoring turned on the landing lights. The sight picture was that of a solid white line and what we both believed to be runway centerline lighting directly ahead. Because of the shortened runway; the painted runway identifier was behind us and therefore couldn't be used for guidance. I verified the correct heading for the runway on the HSI and advanced the thrust levers while holding the brakes and asked the pilot monitoring to set takeoff power. After the PM announced Takeoff Power set; I released the brakes and began the takeoff roll. We noted several small bumps as we began our takeoff roll that we attributed to either what we believed were the center line lights or bumps in the runway surface. After about the 3rd bump the PM called for an ABORT and mentioned that he believed we had blown a tire. We brought the aircraft to a stop on the runway and notified the tower that we believed we had blown a tire. It was after we came to a stop and begin to assess the situation we became aware the runway centerline was a faded line to our left and that the line we believed to be the center line was actually a runway edge line. The tower controller told us to hold our position on the runway and notified the FBO that we would need a tug. When the tug arrived I exited the aircraft to install the gear pins and saw that we had blown both right main tires. I noted that the runway edge lights were small and extended only a few inches above the ground. While being towed back to the ramp we observed that the line I mistook for the runway center line was a wide line that extended all the way across the taxiway rather than stopping at the edge of the wide intersection that we had used to access the runway. We notified the company about what had happened and made a phone call to the Tower.We were at an unfamiliar airport at night that was undergoing construction and had faded markings. Although we reviewed the airport diagram prior to taxi neither of us noticed that the runway did not have centerline lighting installed. Upon lining up for departure we both saw a sight picture that looked normal for a night takeoff even with the extra time spend doing the static run up before releasing the brakes. My most critical mistake was that I mistook the nonstandard white line across the taxi way for the runway center line. In addition; the brightness of the edge lights that we mistook for center line lights and limited vision at night obscured the fact that it was a solid line instead of a segmented line.

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.