Narrative:

We were lined up and waiting on runway 15; parking brake set; aircraft control passed to the first officer as pilot flying; with a release time window of (slightly in the future). After a landing regional jet on runway 08 had cleared the intersection; tower instructed us '(call sign) cleared for takeoff runway 15.' I; as pm; acknowledged the clearance; the PF released the parking brake and applied takeoff thrust; and made the call 'set takeoff thrust.' I responded 'set.' we were now somewhere between about 50-60 knots when tower said '(call sign) cancel takeoff clearance;' with no descriptive communication. I responded 'we're already rolling;' and by the time I said that; we were above 80 knots. The tower responded 'oh; we do now have your release.' we continued the takeoff; and the rest of the flight was uneventful.tower controllers should have set criteria for cancelling takeoff clearances and causing rejected takeoffs. Cancelling of a takeoff clearance (directive communication) should normally be followed up by descriptive communication (i.e.; 'vehicle on runway'). Confusion within the tower over whether or not a release has been received for an aircraft already on takeoff roll should not meet that criterion for cancelling takeoff clearance. Pilots (in our case the captain) should probably comply with cancelling of takeoff clearance when below 80 knots; even when your initial reaction is that that cancelling has been done in error; and that initial reaction turns out to be correct.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew is cleared into position to hold for release followed by cleared for takeoff. The flight crew began their takeoff roll and after reaching between 40 and 70 knots; the Tower issued a Cancel Takeoff clearance; which the crew questioned without reacting. The Tower came back with; 'you now have your release time.' The takeoff was continued.

Narrative: We were lined up and waiting on Runway 15; parking brake set; Aircraft Control passed to the First Officer as Pilot Flying; with a release time window of (slightly in the future). After a landing regional jet on Runway 08 had cleared the intersection; Tower instructed us '(Call sign) cleared for takeoff Runway 15.' I; as PM; acknowledged the clearance; the PF released the parking brake and applied takeoff thrust; and made the call 'Set takeoff thrust.' I responded 'Set.' We were now somewhere between about 50-60 knots when Tower said '(Call sign) cancel takeoff clearance;' with no descriptive communication. I responded 'We're already rolling;' and by the time I said that; we were above 80 knots. The Tower responded 'Oh; we do now have your Release.' We continued the takeoff; and the rest of the flight was uneventful.Tower Controllers should have set criteria for cancelling takeoff clearances and causing rejected takeoffs. Cancelling of a takeoff clearance (directive communication) should normally be followed up by descriptive communication (i.e.; 'vehicle on runway'). Confusion within the Tower over whether or not a release has been received for an aircraft already on takeoff roll should not meet that criterion for cancelling takeoff clearance. Pilots (in our case the Captain) should probably comply with cancelling of takeoff clearance when below 80 knots; even when your initial reaction is that that cancelling has been done in error; and that initial reaction turns out to be correct.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.