An air carrier refused take off clearance when ATC confirmed arresting cables; requested by inbound ...

Narrative:

While taxiing out for take off at dsm we were monitoring the tower frequency. On the tower frequency we heard a conversation between dsm tower and a flight of two F-16's. The F-16's were coming in to land and tower inquired if they wanted the 'cable' up or down. They responded that they wanted the 'cable' up. Approximately 15 seconds later the tower advised them the 'cable' was showing 'up.' by this time we were at the hold short lines for runway 31. A minute or so later; and before the F-16's landed; tower cleared us for take off. I immediately inquired about the status of the 'cable' and if it was up or down. Tower responded that it was at the departure end of the runway and wouldn't affect our take off roll. I responded back that we were not going to take off with the 'cable' up! Tower seemed flustered and then told us the distance to the cable; which was 9;000+ feet; I said I don't care; we are not taking off with it up. Tower then cancelled our take off clearance and told us to continue holding short of the runway. A minute or so later the F-16's landed; tower advised us the cable was now showing down; and then cleared us for take off. We took off without incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier refused take off clearance when ATC confirmed arresting cables; requested by inbound military aircraft; were up at the departure end of the runway.

Narrative: While taxiing out for take off at DSM we were monitoring the Tower frequency. On the Tower frequency we heard a conversation between DSM Tower and a flight of two F-16's. The F-16's were coming in to land and Tower inquired if they wanted the 'cable' up or down. They responded that they wanted the 'cable' up. Approximately 15 seconds later the Tower advised them the 'cable' was showing 'up.' By this time we were at the hold short lines for Runway 31. A minute or so later; and before the F-16's landed; Tower cleared us for take off. I immediately inquired about the status of the 'cable' and if it was up or down. Tower responded that it was at the departure end of the runway and wouldn't affect our take off roll. I responded back that we were not going to take off with the 'cable' up! Tower seemed flustered and then told us the distance to the cable; which was 9;000+ feet; I said I don't care; we are not taking off with it up. Tower then cancelled our take off clearance and told us to continue holding short of the runway. A minute or so later the F-16's landed; Tower advised us the cable was now showing down; and then cleared us for take off. We took off without incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1081346
Time
Date	201304
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	DSM.Airport
State Reference	IA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 140 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

An air carrier refused take off clearance when ATC confirmed arresting cables; requested by inbound military aircraft; were up at the departure end of the runway.