Originally Posted by
meleagertoo 
Cause? Overloading the towbar made worse by using unsuitable tugs. The shockloading on the towbar with all the snatch-loads from the tugs' wheels slipping must have been massive. Use of a suitable sized tug or a winch would have resulted in a much smoother tow and vastly less stress on the towbar, even so, one has to wonder if towbars are rated for the sort of gradients found on ships' loading ramps. Do those towbars have fuse-pins? As the helo swings round at the end of he ramp there's something quite substantial flailing around and still attached to the nosegear.
Is that a proper CH53 towbar?
I would say what caused it was the front tug wheel spinning his way up the metal ramp to suddenly finding a none slip deck where he then had grip and the spin being converted into traction and the unexpected sudden jerk from that grip.