Originally Posted by
asyncio
<snip>
Perhaps it was just a cable break and it looked worse than it was from the angle you saw it?
A aerotow cable break is very unusual. There are no practise breaks unlike with winch launch, and it is very rare that the aerotow rope or weak link breaks. But I agree the angle of view might have made it look like something was happening that didn't really happen.
I wonder what height the OP thought the aircraft in question were at?