Andrew garrison can you add arresting cables to Wright Airport and Yeager Airport? The hooks are instead used during emergency landings when the aircraft's brakes have failed or it has suffered structural damage that may make it difficult to keep the nose pointed down the runway during landing. The tailhook is also used during aborted takeoffs if there is any concern that the plane cannot stop on the length of runway remaining. Most runways at Air Force and other military bases, as well as some civilian fields, are equipped with crash barriers towards the end of the runway or sometimes in the middle. These barriers usually consist of thick cables similar to those used on Navy aircraft carriers.