I appreciate everyone's comments. A few nights ago at Detroit, MI (DTW), conditions other than the poor braking report on 3R (wind, vis and ceiling) were not bad at all. I talked later to another DC-9 guy who turned off of runway 3R, and he called the braking "poor to nil" so that the tower would finally close the runway, which they did.
After we taxied in that night, I told the First Officer (a former C-141 IP and Air Force Lear pilot) that we were remaining at the gate on the next plane until we heard at least a fair report from a jet, before deciding to takeoff. No debate there. Luckily for our passengers, the airport folks cleared the snow from 3C and 3L with much better reports from transport category jets. Other than refusing future landings with poor reports, I will also keep the reversers just above idle instead of stowing, until clear of the runway and on the taxiway-one Captain receiving operating experience (OE) two years ago only stopped on the runway turnoff because the check airman grabbed the reversers-their turnoff had not been treated, or refroze!
I have seen numerous jets takeoff from 21C following deicing last winter, and there were no landing reports available, because the runway was ONLY USED FOR TAKEOFF, and there might have been lousy conditions for a high-speed abort.
We now have recommended crosswind limits for good, fair, poor braking action, less than the normal dry limits, but I would not land anywhere near the max recommended crosswinds unless in good braking conditions. This was a result of a union safety rep having to use reversers to stop, after the actual braking was found to be much worse than reported. The company Flt Ops people and the FAA (I have no doubt about the FAA's indifference) probably would never have initiated/created these reduced limits without some incidents last winter.
By the way, our union Safety Officers claim that the FAA Flight Standards people etc don't even care how often airports plow/spray chemicals on runways (some negligence happens even at Michigan's, Wisconson's... smaller airports)! I wish I were kidding about any of this.
[This message has been edited by Ignition Override (edited 13 December 2000).]