Abstract: A system is provided to alleviate high initial tensile load in a cable subjected to sudden impact such as airplane arrestment during landing on an aircraft carrier. A series of pulleys or other supporting structure is arranged to impart a curved shape to a cable stretched thereacross. One or more of the pulleys are spaced along opposing sides of the cable impact point so that one side is a mirror image of the other. The pulleys are positioned to change the cable angular direction by an amount less than that which would cause a total reflection of the transverse wave formed in the cable on impact. In this manner, the wave is partially reflected at each pulley/cable contact point. This action generates a corresponding number of small tensile load increases and spreads them out over a relatively long time period thereby alleviating the initial aircraft impact force.