Originally Posted by
Hoi polloi
were the Delta pilots not looking down the runway as they accelerated?
It's normal for aircraft to approach the departure runway. They stop or turn. You don't know that they are crossing until they are entering the runway.
Originally Posted by
wrp96
Not only did the AA pilots continue with takeoff, they apparently disregarded the command from ATC to pull the breaker so the CVR recording was preserved.
I'm not aware of anything which would give ATC the authority to issue such an order. And, if you did pull the CVR breaker, you wouldn't depart.
Originally Posted by
RDGCU
Interesting fact that on ground, the FO (assuming) did not read back 4L as departure.
That is required. You must read back the departure runway. The controller should have caught that and asked for the runway readback (happens with some regularity). That will be one of the contributing factors with both the pilot and the controller missing it.