Narrative:

This was my first time taking off in a 172R after training heavily in a 172N and one intro flight in a 172SP. The 172R is a heavier 172 than I am used to flying. When I did pre-flight on the plane I noticed the previous pilot had left the plane trimmed in almost a full nose up setting. I reset the trim tab to the 'takeoff' position indicated on the trim wheel. The start up and run up were normal and then I was cleared for takeoff. On the takeoff roll I felt the nose wheel shimmy like it would if there were downward pressure on the nose. I pulled back a bit on the yolk and the shimmy stopped. The plane accelerated strongly down the runway but as it went past 55 KTS and 60 KTS (rotate speed is 55 KTS) the normal amount of back pressure did not result in a takeoff. Not sure why the plane wasn't taking off I aborted the takeoff; set the mix to full lean and throttle off and aggressively braked the plane. Seeing I could not stop the plane before the end of the runway; I steered towards the last taxiway; crossed a section of grass and came to a stop on another taxiway. No damage to the plane; any other plane; any equipment at the airport or people resulted from the situation. I contacted the tower and reported my location; at which point I was directed to talk to ground. I talked with ground control; advised them of my intentions to restart the plane. I had difficulty restarting the plane (the plane is fuel injected and I trained in carborated airplanes). Ground control sent the airport ground operations to the plane and had them tow me out of the taxiway. I called the tower; reported on my situation; eventually got the plane restarted and returned it to parking. The main cause of the situation was my unfamiliarity with this airplane. I believe the trim setting I had was actually too nose low for my takeoff weight and as a result it required more back pressure than I was used to in order to successfully takeoff. I could have avoided the situation by (a) bringing another pilot familiar with the plane with me on my first flight in it; or (b) simply using more back pressure on the yolk to takeoff.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C172R Pilot rejected a takeoff at about 60 KTS and ran off the end of the runway after a nose wheel shimmy became excessive and the elevator force to takeoff felt abnormal.

Narrative: This was my first time taking off in a 172R after training heavily in a 172N and one intro flight in a 172SP. The 172R is a heavier 172 than I am used to flying. When I did pre-flight on the plane I noticed the previous pilot had left the plane trimmed in almost a full nose up setting. I reset the trim tab to the 'takeoff' position indicated on the trim wheel. The start up and run up were normal and then I was cleared for takeoff. On the takeoff roll I felt the nose wheel shimmy like it would if there were downward pressure on the nose. I pulled back a bit on the yolk and the shimmy stopped. The plane accelerated strongly down the runway but as it went past 55 KTS and 60 KTS (rotate speed is 55 KTS) the normal amount of back pressure did not result in a takeoff. Not sure why the plane wasn't taking off I aborted the takeoff; set the mix to full lean and throttle off and aggressively braked the plane. Seeing I could not stop the plane before the end of the runway; I steered towards the last taxiway; crossed a section of grass and came to a stop on another taxiway. No damage to the plane; any other plane; any equipment at the airport or people resulted from the situation. I contacted the Tower and reported my location; at which point I was directed to talk to Ground. I talked with Ground Control; advised them of my intentions to restart the plane. I had difficulty restarting the plane (the plane is fuel injected and I trained in carborated airplanes). Ground Control sent the airport ground operations to the plane and had them tow me out of the taxiway. I called the Tower; reported on my situation; eventually got the plane restarted and returned it to parking. The main cause of the situation was my unfamiliarity with this airplane. I believe the trim setting I had was actually too nose low for my takeoff weight and as a result it required more back pressure than I was used to in order to successfully takeoff. I could have avoided the situation by (a) bringing another pilot familiar with the plane with me on my first flight in it; or (b) simply using more back pressure on the yolk to takeoff.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.