Originally Posted by
Lomapaseo
Had a new one today with a wet runway. The B737 ahead of us started its takeoff roll as we took the turn to the holding area. We never stopped more than a few secs before turning onto the active runway in a rolling takeoff. As we were just finishing the turn while accelerating I looked down the runway and the B737 was still throwing up rain water probably between V1 and lift off. I judged if the first plane was to abort and remain on the ground we would overfly it. This concerned me somewhat even thou it turned out to be nothing. I suspect that the judgement was either by the ATC clearance or a misunderstanding by our crew.
I'm confused. The holding area?
I think what happened is ATC clears AC1 to takeoff.
While AC1 is rolling, ATC instructs your flight (AC2) to enter the runway (position and hold). Once ATC sees AC1 wheels lift off runway, they clear AC2 for takeoff.
Is it possible ATC messed up and told AC2 to takeoff before AC1 had wheels off ground? Yes. Is it possible AC2 expecting clearance to takeoff, took off despite only being told to position and hold? Yes. However it's very likely that from your vantage point and w/o benefit of ATC, you simply saw what looked like, but wasn't a violation.